Project description:Human epidemiological evidence has led scientists to theorize that undernutrition during gestation is an important early origin of adult diseases. Animal models have successfully demonstrated that maternal diet could contribute to some of adult diseases. Undernutrition is perceived harmful in pregnant women whereas calorie restriction is a strategy proven to extend healthy and maximum life span in adult. This diagrammatically opposite effect of nutritional condition might provide us hints to search for genes underlying health conditions. Here, we have initiated a study examining the effect of undernutrition on maternal and fetal livers, utilizing high-throughput DNA microarray analysis for screening genome-wide changes in their transcriptomes. Briefly, pregnant mice were exposed to food deprivation (FD) on gestation day (GD) 17, and caesarean section was performed on GD18. Control mice were supplied with chow ad libitum till sacrifice. Total RNA extracted from mother and fetal livers for each control and treatment (FD) was analyzed with an Agilent mouse whole genome DNA chip. Total of 3058 and 3126 up (>1.5 fold)- and down (<0.75 fold)-regulated genes, and 1475 and 1225 up- (>1.5 fold)- and down (<0.75 fold)-regulated genes showed differential expression at the mRNA level, in the maternal and fetal livers, respectively. Interestingly, 103 genes up-regulated in mother were down-regulated in fetus, whereas 108 down-regulated maternal genes were up-regulated in fetus; these 211 genes are potential candidates related to longevity or health. The role of some of these genes, in context of the proposed mechanisms for developmental origins of health and disease is discussed. Comparison between mouse control and FD livers in fetus and mother was performed. Five to ten biological replicates were used, and pooled total RNA from each condition (control and FD) was dye-swaped.
Project description:Human epidemiological evidence has led scientists to theorize that undernutrition during gestation is an important early origin of adult diseases. Animal models have successfully demonstrated that maternal diet could contribute to some of adult diseases. Undernutrition is perceived harmful in pregnant women whereas calorie restriction is a strategy proven to extend healthy and maximum life span in adult. This diagrammatically opposite effect of nutritional condition might provide us hints to search for genes underlying health conditions. Here, we have initiated a study examining the effect of undernutrition on maternal and fetal livers, utilizing high-throughput DNA microarray analysis for screening genome-wide changes in their transcriptomes. Briefly, pregnant mice were exposed to food deprivation (FD) on gestation day (GD) 17, and caesarean section was performed on GD18. Control mice were supplied with chow ad libitum till sacrifice. Total RNA extracted from mother and fetal livers for each control and treatment (FD) was analyzed with an Agilent mouse whole genome DNA chip. Total of 3058 and 3126 up (>1.5 fold)- and down (<0.75 fold)-regulated genes, and 1475 and 1225 up- (>1.5 fold)- and down (<0.75 fold)-regulated genes showed differential expression at the mRNA level, in the maternal and fetal livers, respectively. Interestingly, 103 genes up-regulated in mother were down-regulated in fetus, whereas 108 down-regulated maternal genes were up-regulated in fetus; these 211 genes are potential candidates related to longevity or health. The role of some of these genes, in context of the proposed mechanisms for developmental origins of health and disease is discussed.
Project description:A large number of rodent studies have supported the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) hypothesis that interauterine undernutrition (IU) is a risk factor for non-communicable diseases. The effect of IU is considered to be induced thorough epigenetic programming in the fetal tissues. We have recently carried out global transcriptome expression and promoter DNA methylation analyses on the fetal mouse liver following maternal 50% food restriction (FR) during late gestation, and reported a list of fetal liver genes that were transcriptionally or epigenetically regulated by IU (Ogawa et al., 2014, Congenital Anomalies). We have already reported the genes that were regulated oppositely between maternal and fetal livers (Ogawa et al., 2014, Congenital Anomalies). Here, we considered that the fetal liver is a hematopoietic organ, and exposed nine-week-old male mice (C57BL/6J from Japan SLC, Hamamatsu, Japan; n=8 / group) to 50% FR (chow; CE-2, CLEA, Tokyo Japan) for two weeks and carried out global gene expression analysis on the whole blood by a method reported previously (Ogawa et al., 2014, Congenital Anomalies).
Project description:Non-optimal fetal environments resulting in low birth weight have epidemiologically been associated with a higher risk of adult diseases. In animal models, maternal undernutrition has successfully demonstrated that offspring owed increased risks for adult diseases. In mice, shorten life span was also demonstrated in offspring following maternal undernutrition. In the present study, we treated pregnant mice with 50% food restriction (FR), and performed global gene expression and promotor DNA methylation profiling on the fetal livers. Considering that effects of food restriction is opposite between before and after birth, we further searched genes which are regulated oppositely against adult calorie restriction (CR) and commonly against aging. Among searched genes, trib1 has already been demonstrated to contribute to a risk of cardiovascular disease, hypertriglyceridaemia and insulin resistance. The present result suggests that expression of trib1 is affected by maternal nutrition, and is one of the most responsible genes for developmental origins of metabolic syndrome. In addition, lepr was also down-regulated by maternal FR, suggested a potential role of this gene in induction of obesity and diabetes. Promotor DNA methylation profiling as well as gene expression profiling revealed that glucocorticoid receptor target genes were regulated by maternal FR. This finding supports previous studies that suggest an important role for glucocorticoid in developmental origins of metabolic syndrome. In the immune system, most of the genes related to interferon were down-regulated in their expression with up-regulation of their promoter DNA methylation. The profiling also suggested diminished NF-κB signalling. These results suggested that maternal FR affected development of the immune system. We presented here a list of genes responsible for developmental origins of health and disease, which were regulated oppositely against adult CR, and commonly against aging, and also affected their promotor DNA methylation. The present list hopefully contributes to prediction of risks for non communicable diseases, and also prediction of prenatal environment of nutrition from offspring materials. Here we carried out global gene expression profiling analysis on the fetal mouse liver following maternal 50% FR. Considering that opposite effects of nutrition between the fetus and adult, we further analyzed our fetal array data by comparing with data from their mothers, and array data on the effect of CR and aging in previous reports using adult rodent tissues. In addition, we performed global DNA methylation analysis using mouse promoter microarray, and compared the results with data of the gene expression analysis. Finally, we presented a list of candidate genes responsible for DOHaD.
Project description:one-carbon metabolism in the liver plays a critical role in placental and fetal growth. Impaired functioning of one-carbon metabolism is associated with increased homocysteine (Hcy) levels. In this study, we applied a comprehensive proteomic approach to identify differential expression of proteins related to one-carbon metabolism in the livers of rat offspring as an effect of maternal food restriction during gestation. We determined that betaine-homocysteine S-methyltransferase 1 (BHMT1), methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase 1 (MTHFD1), and ATP synthase subunit beta mitochondrial (ATP5B) expression levels were significantly reduced in the livers of rat offspring exposed to maternal food restriction during gestation compared with in the offspring of rats fed a normal diet (p<0.05).
Project description:Although circadian clocks oscillate in most cells, it has been difficult to detect canonical expression of clock genes in fetal rodent tissues, including the fetal liver. The oscillation status of fetal clocks and the maternal influence on these clocks have not yet been conclusively defined. Here we report that, when the mother mice are under restricted feeding, the expression rhythms of several clock genes can be detected in fetal mouse livers. Those rhythms, although of low amplitude, reversed their profiles under opposite feeding cycles, suggesting maternal entrainment of the weak fetal liver clocks. However, Bmal1 could show biphasic expression in the fetal livers. The expression of some metabolic genes (e.g. Insig1) also showed biphasic daily changes in fetal livers, possibly as a result of interactions between the unique in utero milieu and the fetal liver clocks. Regular rhythms of clock gene expression were detected in dissociated fetal hepatocytes in culture. Differential expression of metabolic genes were found between fetal and adult livers, suggesting that metabolic features affected clock amplitude. Genome-wide differences in DNA methylation were also found between adult and fetal livers. Some of those epigenetic changes were likely critical for the developmental changes in clock amplitudes.
Project description:Maternal over- and undernutrition in pregnancy plays a critical role in fetal brain development and function. The effects of different maternal diet compositions on intrauterine programming of the fetal brain in the absence of maternal obesity or maternal undernutrition is a lesser-explored area. The goal of this study was to investigate the impact of two different maternal diets on fetal brain gene expression signatures, fetal/neonatal growth, and neonatal behavior in a mouse model. Female C57Bl/6J mice were fed one of two commercially-available chow diets (pelleted vs. powdered) with differing micronutrient and carbohydrate compositions throughout pregnancy and lactation. The powdered chow diet was richer in carbohydrates and lower in micronutrients than the pelleted chow diet, among other differences. On embryonic day 15.5, embryos were weighed and measured. Fetal brains were snap frozen. RNA was extracted from fetal forebrains for five fetuses per diet group and hybridized to whole genome expression microarrays. Functional analyses identified significant upregulation of canonical pathways and upstream regulators involved in cell cycle regulation, synaptic plasticity, and sensory nervous system development in the fetal brain, and significant downregulation of pathways related to cell and embryo death. Pathways related to DNA damage response, humoral and cell-mediated immune response, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, small molecule biosynthesis, and amino acid metabolism were also dysregulated. Maternal dietary content is an important variable for researchers evaluating fetal brain development and offspring behavior to consider. Selection of a chow diet matched for micronutrients is crucial to avoid unexpected or undesired effects on offspring brain development and behavior.
Project description:Non-optimal fetal environments resulting in low birth weight have epidemiologically been associated with adult diseases. In animal models, maternal undernutrition has successfully demonstrated increased risks for adult diseases. In the present study, we treated pregnant mice with 50% food restriction (FR), and performed global gene expression and promotor DNA methylation profiling on the fetal livers. Considering that effects of food restriction is opposite between before and after birth, we further searched genes which are regulated oppositely against adult calorie restriction and commonly against aging. Searched genes were included in groups related to the immune system, obesity and heart disease. Among these genes, trib1 has already been demonstrated to contribute to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The present result suggests that trib1 is a target of DOHaD. In addition, lepr was also dow-regulaed by maternal FR, suggested a potential role of this gene in induction of obesity. Promotor DNA methylation profiling as well as gene expression profiling revealed glucocorticoid target genes were regulated by maternal FR, supported previous reports suggesting important role of glucocorticoid in DOHaD.
Project description:<p>Myostatin (gene symbol: Mstn) is an autocrine and paracrine inhibitor of muscle growth. Pregnant mice with genetically reduced levels of myostatin give birth to offspring with greater adult muscle mass and bone biomechanical strength. However, maternal myostatin is not detectable in fetal circulations. Fetal growth is dependent on the maternal environment, and the provisioning of nutrients and growth factors by the placenta. Thus, this study examined the effect of reduced maternal myostatin on maternal and fetal serum metabolomes, as well as the placental metabolome. Fetal and maternal serum metabolomes were highly distinct, which is consistent with the role of the placenta in creating a specific fetal nutrient environment. There was no effect from myostatin on maternal glucose tolerance or fasting insulin. In comparisons between pregnant control and Mstn+/− mice, there were more significantly different metabolite concentrations in fetal serum, at 50, than in the mother’s serum at 33, confirming the effect of maternal myostatin reduction on the fetal metabolic milieu. Polyamines, lysophospholipids, fatty acid oxidation, and vitamin C, in fetal serum, were all affected by maternal myostatin reduction.</p>
Project description:A large number of rodent studies have supported the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) hypothesis that interauterine undernutrition (IU) is a risk factor for non-communicable diseases. The effect of IU is considered to be induced thorough epigenetic programming in the fetal tissues. We have recently carried out global transcriptome expression and promoter DNA methylation analyses on the fetal mouse liver following maternal 50% food restriction (FR) during late gestation, and reported a list of fetal liver genes that were transcriptionally or epigenetically regulated by IU (Ogawa et al., 2014, Congenital Anomalies). We have already reported the genes that were regulated oppositely between maternal and fetal livers (Ogawa et al., 2014, Congenital Anomalies). Here, we considered that the fetal liver is a hematopoietic organ, and exposed nine-week-old male mice (C57BL/6J from Japan SLC, Hamamatsu, Japan; n=8 / group) to 50% FR (chow; CE-2, CLEA, Tokyo Japan) for two weeks and carried out global gene expression analysis on the whole blood by a method reported previously (Ogawa et al., 2014, Congenital Anomalies). Male C57BL/6J mice at 9 weeks (Japan SLC, Hamamatsu, Japan ; n=8 / group) were exposed to 50% FR (chow; CE-2, CLEA, Tokyo Japan) for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, the mice were anesthetized with somunopentyl®(Kyoritsu eiyaku, Tokyo) at a dose of 0.5 mL/kg, and blood was taken from the right ventricle of the heart. Blood samples were immediately immersed in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80°C. All animal care and experimental procedures were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Showa University, and caried out at animal facilities in Showa University. DNA Microarray analysis was carried out on 3 pools, respectively. Pool 1 included samples from animal No. 1-8 in each group (control and 50% FR). Pool 2 included samples from animal No. 1-4 in each group. Pool 3 included samples from animal No. 5-8 in each group.