The road to assisted reproduction is long and sometimes leads to the need to resort to egg donation. This different way of getting to motherhood raises doubts and questions that until then you had not considered. Sometimes rejection is even generated by the idea of not being able to be a mother with your own eggs. But, do you know how the maternal uterus influences pregnancy? Do you think that the same embryo implanted in two different women develops the same? In 2015, we published one of the first studies on the relationship of the uterus in gestation But today, we have asked Dr. Judith Reina, genetic advisor in the Reproductive Genetics Unit of IVI, to talk to you about the important role of epigenetics or what is the same, how the pregnant mother influences a pregnancy by egg donation .
Today I want to address some of the questions commonly asked by women who use egg donation. If I get pregnant with donated eggs, will the baby look like me? Will I contribute in any way to the inherited traits of the future baby? The idea of giving up one’s own genetic load produces fear and rejection in some women and is a process known as “genetic grief”. However, this question brings me to talk about a complex and somewhat unknown concept in biology, called epigenetics.
Genetics and epigenetics
What is epigenetics? The word “epigenetics” literally means beyond genetics. When we talk about genetics we can more or less imagine what it is, in an abstract way. It is the information that living beings carry in our cells and that is necessary for the correct formation of our body and its proper functioning. We could imagine this genetic information as an encyclopedia made up of books (which we would define as chromosomes) that in turn contain numerous phrases. These sentences would in turn be made up of words that are linked together with a certain sense. They also transmit a message, which is the essential basis for the correct training and proper functioning of the human body. Consequently, if these sentences contain any errors, they can sometimes lead to well-known genetic diseases, some of them hereditary.
However, the letters that make up our genetic information need “punctuation marks” to make sense, just like in a book. These modifications that modulate and determine the meaning of genetic information is what is known as the epigenetics. This is just as important as the genetic information itself, being essential also for the correct development, life and health of human beings.
How does epigenetics influence offspring?
Certain modifications of our genetic information can cause diseases or determine to have a specific trait. Furthermore, today it is known that many diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular problems or diabetes can appear, in part, due to changes in epigenetics. It is even suspected that certain physical characteristics could also be influenced by epigenetics. As an example, we could say that if a baby is more likely to have dark eyes and curly hair due to the genetic load provided by its parents, this possibility may be increased or decreased depending on the influence of epigenetics in that baby during the gestation.
Just as we are all clear that our genetic information is inherited from our father and mother, what about epigenetics? To this day, there is scientific evidence that epigenetics, in part, is inherited from our parents. But also a large part of it is modulated and established influenced by environmental factors during the development and life of each person, including the time in which a baby develops within the mother’s womb. These environmental factors include diet, alcohol, tobacco, physical exercise, certain pollutants and drugs, and stress. In addition, several investigations published in recent years in scientific journals have shown that the epigenetic modifications acquired in a person throughout his life can also be transmitted to the next generation. These results suggest that certain lifestyles, such as being a smoker, having bad eating habits or doing little physical activity can alter one’s own epigenetics. Also, these harmful modifications could be passed on to direct offspring and even future ones like grandchildren.
The role of epigenetics in egg donation
Focusing on the specific moment of pregnancy, some scientists suggest that there is a communication between the womb (the endometrium) and the baby. This is potentially capable of modulating how its genetic information is expressed, regardless of whether that baby comes from an own or donated egg. Therefore, we could conclude that the uterine environment that a pregnant woman gives to her baby during gestation, regardless of whether the eggs come from a donor, is considered important since it will inevitably modify and influence the way in which the This baby’s genetic information is expressed and, therefore, it can be seen reflected in the physical characteristics and health of the newborn.
