Placental Expression of Imprinted Genes, Overall and in Sex-Specific Patterns, Associated with Placental Cadmium Concentrations and Birth Size.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Prenatal cadmium (Cd) exposure has been recognized to restrict growth, and male and female fetuses may have differential susceptibility to the developmental toxicity of Cd. Imprinted genes, which exhibit monoallelic expression based on parent of origin, are highly expressed in placental tissues. The function of these genes is particularly critical to fetal growth and development, and some are expressed in sex-specific patterns.

Objectives

We aimed to examine whether prenatal Cd associates with the expression of imprinted placental genes, overall or in fetal sex-specific patterns, across two independent epidemiologic studies.

Methods

We tested for Cd–sex interactions in association with gene expression, then regressed the placental expression levels of 74 pu

SUBMITTER: Everson TM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6791491 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature