Gestational diabetes may increase the risk of blood vessel dysfunction and heart disease in offspring by altering a smooth muscle protein called transgelin, which is responsible for blood vessel network formation. Understanding the protein’s function in foetal cells may improve early detection of disease in children. Gestational diabetes, a state of prolonged high blood sugar during pregnancy, affects approximately 7% of pregnant women. Uncontrolled gestational diabetes may result in high blood pressure during pregnancy or in premature birth or stillbirth. Levels of a protein called transgelin are higher in the offspring of women with gestational diabetes. Transgelin (found in the endothelial colony forming cells that line the walls of blood vessels) regulates cell migration, a process involved in wound healing and building blood vessel networks. The study has been published in the American Journal of Physiology – Cell Physiology .
