Moreover, animal studies have demonstrated IUGR-associated systemic inflammation in various organs: adult (uteroplacental) IUGR rats exhibited increased pancreatic β-cell inflammation, increasing the risk of diabetes (230, 241); a sheep model for hypothermia-induced IUGR showed a decrease of NF-κB as key regulator of immune-responses (231); and finally, a recent study in IUGR lambs demonstrated increased inflammatory markers and expression of inflammatory as well as pro-apoptotic genes in liver tissue (229). This evidence concerns the gene NFKB1 and fetal growth restriction.