A review on Supplementation of Myo-Inositol during pregnancy and reduced risk of Neural Tube Defects
Time and again there are researches to study Inositol Status during pregnancy and its physiological, functional, and developmental outcome. D’Souza and colleagues (2020) published a review study to conclude the benefit of Myoinositol on Neural Tube Defects (NTDs) in their manuscript entitled, “Maternal Inositol Status and Neural Tube Defects: A Role for the Human Yolk Sac in Embryonic Inositol Delivery?” in the Advances in Nutrition journal. The summary of this review can be studied below:
Objective:
To study how Myo-inositol affects embryonic development, its potential in reducing the risk of NTDs by understanding the relationship between maternal-fetal inositol and part of inositol transporters in supplying embryonic inositol.
Method:
Current concepts regarding Myo-inositol importance have been combined in this review.
Findings:
The review concludes that along with folic acid supplementation, Myo-inositol intake is crucial for preventing NTDs during the initial month of life. Fetal production of myoinositol initiates early in pregnancy due to the relationship between maternal–embryonic inositol. This relationship leads to normal function and development. Review highlights that when the neural tube is closing during the initial months of the embryonic stage there should be an established active Myo-inositol cellular uptake mechanism. This is the key stage that might be affected in infants with NTDs. This study has outlined the sites for the expression of inositol transporters and transport pathways; through which Myo-inositol may reach early developing human embryo. The concentration of inositol in the body is influenced by metabolizing glucose 6- phosphate and through diet exogenously.
Limitations:
Authors suggest that further studies on the transporting mechanism of Myo- inositol by human yolk sac during neural tube closure and embryonic organogenesis are required.
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