Hypoxia During Growth and Development

Maintaining adequate oxygen is pivotal for sustaining cellular metabolism and growth among all mammalian species from the earliest stages of development onwards. Disrupted oxygen balance during critical developmental windows elicits acute physiological responses and persistent modifications to organ systems and disease susceptibility. A deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying the maintenance of oxygen homeostasis, the consequences to growth and development that occur when homeostatic balance fails, and the temporal nature of such effects will help lay the groundwork for developing early interventions and effective therapies.

Physiological hypoxia is critical for orchestrating transcriptional programs that guide cellular differentiation during embryogenesis and crucial for the initial phases of placentation that are required to sustain fetal oxygenation across gestation. The fetus is exquisitely sensitive to periodic disruptions in oxygen homeostasis which elicit myriad physiologic and metabolic responses to maximize oxygen delivery to critical organ systems. Chronic fetal hypoxia has been linked to the later-in-life development of potentially devastating conditions including, but not limited to, neurological disorders, abnormal growth trajectories, cardiovascular dysfunction, metabolic dysregulation, and pulmonary vascular disease. Exposure to chronic hypoxia such as that of high altitudes during infancy and childhood can also affect postnatal growth trajectories and influence health outcomes. This research topic welcomes contributions that improve our understanding of the molecular mechanisms regulating oxygen homeostasis during critical developmental periods, the impact of hypoxia on developmental trajectories and disease susceptibility, and human adaptive potential under conditions of limited oxygen supply.

We encourage the submission of papers focused on the following themes:

-Developmental programming
-Embryonic and developmental physiology
-Respiratory physiology
-Vascular physiology
-Integrative physiology
-Red blood cell physiology
-Gene-environment interaction
-Personalized medicine
-Omics
-Environmental physiology
-Pharmacology (related to agents that activate or inhibit hypoxia signaling)

While preliminary abstract submission is not mandatory, we encourage all interested investigators to submit an abstract before submitting a full manuscript.

Topic Editors declare no conflict of interest.

Keywords: Hypoxia, development, growth, embryonic physiology, adequate oxygen, mammalian species, human physiology, developmental physiology, Vascular physiology, Respiratory physiology, omics, Red blood cell physiology

Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.