Committee Chair

Richards, Sean M.

Committee Member

Kovach, Margaret J.; Symes, Steve; Adair, C. David

Department

Dept. of Biological and Environmental Sciences

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

Infants born below 2,500 grams are classified as low birth w eight. Reduced birth weight has been shown to increase the risk of infant mortality and chronic adulthood diseases. In 2007, Hamilton Country reported 12.0% of live births to be low birth weight, compared to the state average of 9.4%. An excess in utero exposure to cortisol has been linked to restricted fetal growth. Placental production of 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11β-HSD2) inactivates cortisol before passage into the fetus. This study tests the hypothesis that increased placental 11β-HSD2 expression has a positive correlation with an individualized birth weight centile. A Spearman's rank correlation reported a significant correlation between these two variables (p = 0.024). Additionally, birth weight was significantly different between underweight and obese mothers, married vs. single mothers and black vs. white mothers. These results reinforce the importance of proper 11β-HSD2 expression for optimal fetal growth.

Degree

M. S.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science.

Date

5-2012

Subject

Birth weight, Low

Discipline

Environmental Sciences

Document Type

Masters theses

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

ix, 58 leaves

Language

English

Rights

https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

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