Project description:Some neuropsychiatric disease, including schizophrenia, may originate during prenatal development, following periods of gestational hypoxia and placental oxidative stress. Here we investigated if gestational hypoxia promotes damaging secretions from the placenta that affect fetal development and whether a mitochondria-targeted antioxidant MitoQ might prevent this. Gestational hypoxia caused low birth-weight and changes in young adult offspring brain, mimicking those in human neuropsychiatric disease. Exposure of cultured neurons to fetal plasma or to secretions from the placenta or from model trophoblast barriers that had been exposed to altered oxygenation caused similar morphological changes. The secretions and plasma contained altered microRNAs whose targets were linked with changes in gene expression in the fetal brain and with human schizophrenia loci. Molecular and morphological changes in vivo and in vitro were prevented by a single dose of MitoQ bound to nanoparticles, which were shown to localise and prevent oxidative stress in the placenta but not in the fetus. We suggest the possibility of developing preventative treatments that target the placenta and not the fetus to reduce risk of psychiatric disease in later life.
Project description:Some neuropsychiatric disease, including schizophrenia, may originate during prenatal development, following periods of gestational hypoxia and placental oxidative stress. Here we investigated if gestational hypoxia promotes damaging secretions from the placenta that affect fetal development and whether a mitochondria-targeted antioxidant MitoQ might prevent this. Gestational hypoxia caused low birth-weight and changes in young adult offspring brain, mimicking those in human neuropsychiatric disease. Exposure of cultured neurons to fetal plasma or to secretions from the placenta or from model trophoblast barriers that had been exposed to altered oxygenation caused similar morphological changes. The secretions and plasma contained altered microRNAs whose targets were linked with changes in gene expression in the fetal brain and with human schizophrenia loci. Molecular and morphological changes in vivo and in vitro were prevented by a single dose of MitoQ bound to nanoparticles, which were shown to localise and prevent oxidative stress in the placenta but not in the fetus. We suggest the possibility of developing preventative treatments that target the placenta and not the fetus to reduce risk of psychiatric disease in later life.
Project description:Some neuropsychiatric disease, including schizophrenia, may originate during prenatal development, following periods of gestational hypoxia and placental oxidative stress. Here we investigated if gestational hypoxia promotes damaging secretions from the placenta that affect fetal development and whether a mitochondria-targeted antioxidant MitoQ might prevent this. Gestational hypoxia caused low birth-weight and changes in young adult offspring brain, mimicking those in human neuropsychiatric disease. Exposure of cultured neurons to fetal plasma or to secretions from the placenta or from model trophoblast barriers that had been exposed to altered oxygenation caused similar morphological changes. The secretions and plasma contained altered microRNAs whose targets were linked with changes in gene expression in the fetal brain and with human schizophrenia loci. Molecular and morphological changes in vivo and in vitro were prevented by a single dose of MitoQ bound to nanoparticles, which were shown to localise and prevent oxidative stress in the placenta but not in the fetus. We suggest the possibility of developing preventative treatments that target the placenta and not the fetus to reduce risk of psychiatric disease in later life.
Project description:Hypoxia-related pregnancy complications increase the risk of disease in the child in later life. No prevention is available. Previously we noted that a trophoblast barrier, an in vitro model of the placenta, reacted to oxidative stress by secreting factors that damage neighbouring cells. Application of mitochondrion-targeted antioxidant MitoQ prevented this. Here we tested the effects of MitoQ-bound nanoparticles on trophoblast barriers and in a rat model of gestational hypoxia.A single dose of MitoQ-nanoparticles, administered maternally before a hypoxic episode, reduced oxidative stress in the placental barrier without reaching the fetus and prevented changes to birthweight. MitoQ-nanoparticles further suppressed damaging signalling from the placental barriers. Altered signalling molecules in the fetal plasma and in conditioned media from rat placenta included changes to proteins with relevance to cardiovascular disease. We suggest as a future possibility, treatment of the placenta to prevent disease in the offspring in later life.
Project description:Hypoxia-related pregnancy complications increase the risk of disease in the child in later life. No prevention is available. Previously we noted that a trophoblast barrier, an in vitro model of the placenta, reacted to oxidative stress by secreting factors that damage neighbouring cells. Application of mitochondrion-targeted antioxidant MitoQ prevented this. Here we tested the effects of MitoQ-bound nanoparticles on trophoblast barriers and in a rat model of gestational hypoxia.A single dose of MitoQ-nanoparticles, administered maternally before a hypoxic episode, reduced oxidative stress in the placental barrier without reaching the fetus and prevented changes to birthweight. MitoQ-nanoparticles further suppressed damaging signalling from the placental barriers. Altered signalling molecules in the fetal plasma and in conditioned media from rat placenta included changes to proteins with relevance to cardiovascular disease. We suggest as a future possibility, treatment of the placenta to prevent disease in the offspring in later life.
Project description:PurposeT1 mapping and T1-weighted contrasts have a complimentary but currently under utilized role in fetal MRI. Emerging clinical low field scanners are ideally suited for fetal T1 mapping. The advantages are lower T1 values which results in higher efficiency and reduced field inhomogeneities resulting in a decreased requirement for specialist tools. In addition the increased bore size associated with low field scanners provides improved patient comfort and accessibility. This study aims to demonstrate the feasibility of fetal brain T1 mapping at 0.55T.MethodsAn efficient slice-shuffling inversion-recovery echo-planar imaging (EPI)-based T1-mapping and postprocessing was demonstrated for the fetal brain at 0.55T in a cohort of 38 fetal MRI scans. Robustness analysis was performed and placental measurements were taken for validation.ResultsHigh-quality T1 maps allowing the investigation of subregions in the brain were obtained and significant correlation with gestational age was demonstrated for fetal brain T1 maps ( p<0.05$$ p<0.05 $$ ) as well as regions-of-interest in the deep gray matter and white matter.ConclusionsEfficient, quantitative T1 mapping in the fetal brain was demonstrated on a clinical 0.55T MRI scanner, providing foundations for both future research and clinical applications including low-field specific T1-weighted acquisitions.
Project description:Adverse environmental conditions faced by an individual early during its life, such as gestational hypoxia, can have a profound influence on the risk of diseases, such as neurological disorders, in later life. Clinical and preclinical studies suggest that epigenetic programming of gene expression patterns in response to maternal stress have a crucial role in the fetal origins of neurological diseases. Herein, we summarize recent studies regarding the role of epigenetic mechanisms in the developmental programming of neurological diseases in offspring, primarily focusing on DNA methylation/demethylation and miRNAs. Such information could increase our understanding of the fetal origins of adult diseases and help develop effective prevention and intervention against neurological diseases.
Project description:Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), the most prevalent metabolic disorder during pregnancy, has long-term risks of metabolic diseases in offspring. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we analyzed single-cell transcriptional data of cord blood mononuclear cells (CBMCs) from fetuses of healthy and GDM mothers, peripheral blood mononuclear cells from children and adolescents, and coronary plaques myeloid cells from atherosclerosis. Our results demonstrated that monocytes in cord blood were characterized with down-regulated proinflammatory-related pathways and up-regulated proliferation-related pathways. And monocytes in cord blood from GDM mothers were featured with expanded CXCL8+IL1B+ subclusters, enhanced crosstalk with neutrophil granulocytes and augmented adhesive and phagocytic abilities. Interestingly, CXCL8+IL1B+ monocytes influenced by GDM had transcriptome similarity with those of coronary plaques myeloid cells from individuals with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Collectively, our data reveal adverse impact of maternal GDM environment on fetal monocytes and propose potential mechanisms between maternal GDM and offspring atherosclerosis.
Project description:The present study aimed to investigate abnormal fetal cardiac pathological injury with exposure to a hypoxic environment during pregnancy. Pregnant hypoxia sheep models were prepared using artificial cabins. Sixteen pregnant sheep were randomly divided into three groups: normal group (NG), mild hypoxia group (MHG), and severe hypoxia group (SHG). The degree of SpO2, SaO2, breathing and heart rate, CO, and MDA were determined. HE staining, SEM, and TEM were used to evaluate the pathological changes of fetal myocardium. iTRAQ-based quantitative proteomics was employed to identify differentially expressed proteins. At day 30 and 90, the levels of SpO2 and SaO2 in SHG and MHG sheep met the diagnostic criteria. Ninety days after modeling, a dramatic reduction of breathing rate and increase of heart rate was observed in MHG and SHG comparing with that in NG (P < 0.05). At day 120, CO and MDA increased significantly in SHG and MHG than those in NG (P < 0.05), also in SHG compared with that in MHG (P < 0.05). HE staining and electron microscopy scanning showed that the myocardium in SHG and MHG had different levels of tissue edema and abnormal distribution of mitochondrion compared to NG. Eighty differentially expressed proteins were identified in fetal cardiac tissues. In conclusion, different degrees of pregnant hypoxia sheep models were successfully established. Prenatal hypoxia can cause serious damage to heart development of fetal sheep, as well as lead to the significant changes of hypoxia-associated proteins expression, which may be used to the further investigation for clinical applications.