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:Whole human fetal lung microRNA transcriptome profiles from estimated gestational ages 54 to 137 days post conception. Maternal cigarette smoking status is indicated by cotinine levels measured in the corresponding placenta.
Project description:The rate of probiotic usage by pregnant women in the US and Canada ranges from 1.3 to 3.6 %. Probiotic supplements are available without a prescription and have gained currency in treating a variety of ailment ranging from reducing risk of constipation, diarrhea, other gastrointestinal conditions, eczema, pre-term birth, and prevent adverse pregnancy outcomes, including gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and depression/anxiety. Three possible mechanisms by which maternal probiotic supplementation might influence the placenta are through 1) directly impacting possible bacteria residing in the placenta (placenta microbiome), 2) altering bacterial metabolites produced by gut microbiota within the mother that induce placental changes, and 3) maternal probiotics might affect the composition of the bacteria within the maternal gut that affects her immune cells and their responses to the heterologous placenta. For the second potential mechanism, bacterial metabolites that might influence placenta include short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), polyamines (PAs), and Vitamins B9 (Folic Acid) and 12 (Cobalamin), among others. This project aims to determine the effects maternal probiotic supplementation in mice might have on the fetal placenta. With the number of women taking over probiotic supplements increasing, further research is needed to determine how these bioactive agents may affect the placenta and health of the offspring.
Project description:Knee osteoarthritis (KOA), as a degenerative multifactorial disease, affects the quality of life and mental health of patients, and also brings a huge socioeconomic burden. Treating synovitis have shown promise as anti-inflammatory therapeutics in mitigating OA symptoms and disease progression. Here, by analysing synovial single-cell sequencing (scRNA-seq) data from KOA, we found that synovial fibroblasts (FLS) in OA synovium showed a distinct pro-inflammatory phenotype. We collected synovial tissue from patients with clinical OA as well as from healthy donors, and histological examination was consistent with findings in scRNA-seq. Inspired by recent cross-tissue fibroblast lineage studies, we identified by sequencing that healthy FLS in synovial tissues share transcriptome-level similarities with dermal fibroblasts (DFb). Subsequently, we revealed the local as well as systemic distribution of intra-articular injected DFbs by constructing/extracting two types of rat fibroblasts (luciferase DFbs as well as GFP DFbs). The results demonstrate that DFbs can be locally retained in the synovium for up to three weeks following targeted engrafting on it. And intra-articular injection does not result in DFbs migration to vital organs or the occurrence of histological changes in these organs. A rat model of KOA was constructed by anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT) in order to study the therapeutic effect of DFbs on KOA. After injection, the rats showed improvement in painful gait. In addition, histological as well as imaging results showed reduced synovitis and improvement in articular cartilage. Finally we verified the protective effect of DFbs on cytokine-stimulated chondrocytes in a co-culture system.