Dataset Information

Effect of ~ 25 days cortisol treatment on late gestation placenta

ABSTRACT: Previous studies have suggested that increases in maternal cortisol or maternal stress in late pregnancy increase the risk of stillbirth at term. In an ovine model with increased maternal cortisol over the last 0.20 of gestation, we have previously found evidence of disruption of fetal serum and cardiac metabolomics, and of expression of genes related to mitochondrial function and metabolism in biceps femoris, diaphragm and cardiac muscle. The present studies were designed to test for effects of chronically increased maternal cortisol on gene expression and metabolomics in placentomes near term. We hypothesized that changes in placenta may underlie or contribute to the alterations in fetal serum metabolomics, and thereby contribute to changes in striated muscle metabolism. Multi-omic analysis indicates that amino acid metabolism, particularly of branched chain amino acids and glutamate occur in placenta; changes in amino acid metabolism, degradation or biosynthesis in placenta were consistent changes in valine, isoleucine, leucine and glycine in fetal serum. The analysis also indicates changes in glycerophospholipid metabolism, and suggests changes in ER stress and antioxidant status in the placenta. These findings suggest that changes in placental function occurring with excess maternal cortisol in late gestation may contribute to metabolic dysfunction in the fetus at birth.

ORGANISM(S): Ovis aries

PROVIDER: GSE149402 | GEO | 2020/09/01

REPOSITORIES: GEO

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:We have previously shown in sheep that 10 days of modest chronic increase in maternal cortisol result in fetal heart enlargement and Purkinje cell apoptosis. In subsequent studies in which we extended the duration of cortisol infusion (1mg/kg/d) to term, we found a dramatic incidence of stillbirth in the pregnancies with chronically increased cortisol and associated maternal hyperglycemia. To investigate the effects on the heart, transcriptomic analyses were performed on the septa using ovine microarrays and Webgestalt and Cytoscape programs for pathway inference. Analyses of the effects of 10 days of maternal cortisol infusion (130d-cortisol vs 130d control), ~25 days (term at ~140d-cortisol vs 140d control), normal maturation (140d-control vs 130d control) were performed. In all analyses gene ontology (GO) terms related to immune function and cytokine actions were significantly over-represented. After 10 days of cortisol, growth factor and muscle cell apoptosis pathways were significantly over-represented, consistent with our previous findings. We found significantly differentially regulated genes in the term fetuses (ie after ~25 days of cortisol) in pathways consistent with altered metabolism in the heart, particularly in mitochondria, associated with responses to hypoxia and to nutrient. Analysis of mitochondrial number by quantitative real-time PCR confirmed a significant decrease. These pathways were different from those modeled following the normal increase in cortisol in late gestation which contributes to normal maturation of the heart, and thus may be indicative of the fetal heart pathophysiologies seen in pregnancies complicated by diabetes, CushingM-bM-^@M-^Ys disease and chronic stress. 2 cohorts of singleton sheep fetuses at 129-131d gestation or 139-144d gestation (approximately term) were used. The first cohort received maternal cortisol infusion of 1mg/kg/day or vehicle for 10 days until approximately day 130 of gestation (n=6/group), the second cohort received the same dose of cortisol for approximately 25 days until near term (n=7, cortisol; n=7ewes, n=8 fetuses due to one set of twins, control)

Dataset Information

Effect of ~ 25 days cortisol treatment on late gestation placenta

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure