Maternal diets enriched in olive oil regulate lipid metabolism and levels of PPARs and their coactivators in the fetal liver in a rat model of gestational diabetes mellitus

Early-life exposure to gestational diabetes mellitus predisposes offspring to pediatric nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has emerged as the prevailing chronic liver disease in the pediatric population due to the global obesity pandemic. Evidence shows that prenatal and postnatal exposure to maternal abnormalities leads to a higher risk of pediatric NAFLD through persistent alterations in developmental programming. Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a hyperglycemic syndrome which has become the most prevalent complication in pregnant women. An increasing number of both epidemiologic investigations and animal model studies have validated adverse and long-term outcomes in offspring following GDM exposure in utero. Similarly, GDM is considered a crucial risk factor for pediatric NAFLD. This review aimed to summarize currently published studies concerning the inductive roles of GDM in offspring NAFLD development during childhood and adolescence. Dysregulations in hepatic lipid metabolism and gut microbiota in offspring, as well as dysfunctions in the placenta are potential factors in the pathogenesis of GDM-associated pediatric NAFLD. In addition, potentially effective interventions for GDM-associated offspring NAFLD are also discussed in this review. However, most of these therapeutic approaches still require further clinical research for validation.

Regulatory mechanisms underlying endoplasmic reticulum stress involvement in the development of gestational diabetes mellitus entail the CHOP-PPARα-NF-κB pathway

OBJECTIVE

We investigated the proinflammatory functions of endoplasmic reticulum stress and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα) in the development of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and their relationship in regulating inflammation in GDM.

METHODS

This study was performed on placentas of normal pregnant women, women with GDM, and HTR8 cells. Transmission electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry, Western blot analysis, and RT-PCR were performed to analyze ERS and PPARα expression on both normal and GDM pregnancy placentas. ELISA was performed to analyze inflammatory biomarkers. To generate models of the GDM-like state, placentas of normal pregnancy were treated with LPS and polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (poly [I:C]). TG, CHOP plasmid, and CHOP siRNA were assessed as to their regulation of HTR8 cells to discern the relationship between ERS and PPARα in regulating the inflammation associated with GDM.

RESULTS

ERS was elevated in GDM placentas, induced the secretion of IL-6 and TNF-α, and attenuated the expression of GLUT-4. PPARα was diminished in GDM placentas and inhibited the inflammatory responses via the NF-κB nuclear-transport process. 4-PBA reduced CHOP and augmented PPARα, and it decreased IL-6 and TNF-α in our GDM-like explant. However, with both 4-PBA and MK886 treatment, we noted no significant difference in CHOP expression. The level of PPARα was reduced, and that of NF-κB p65 in the nucleus was elevated with TG treatment in the HTR8/Svneo. Knockdown of CHOP increased PPARα and reduced NF-κB p65, while expression of PPARα declined, and that of NF-κB p65 rose with the application of CHOP when HTR8 cells were treated with TG.

CONCLUSIONS

ERS contributes to the pathophysiology of GDM in pregnancy via the CHOP-PPARα-NF-κB-signalling pathway by inducing aberrant activation of inflammation and insulin resistance.

Non-coding RNAs: The link between maternal malnutrition and offspring metabolism

Early life nutrition is associated with the development and metabolism in later life, which is known as the Developmental Origin of Health and Diseases (DOHaD). Epigenetics have been proposed as an important explanation for this link between early life malnutrition and long-term diseases. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) may play a role in this epigenetic programming. The expression of ncRNAs (such as long non-coding RNA H19, microRNA-122, and circular RNA-SETD2) was significantly altered in specific tissues of offspring exposed to maternal malnutrition. Changes in these downstream targets of ncRNAs lead to abnormal development and metabolism. This review aims to summarize the existing knowledge on ncRNAs linking the maternal nutrition condition and offspring metabolic diseases, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes (T2D) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Activation in Precision-Cut Bovine Liver Slices Reveals Novel Putative PPAR Targets in Periparturient Dairy Cows

Metabolic challenges experienced by dairy cows during the transition between pregnancy and lactation (also known as peripartum), are of considerable interest from a nutrigenomic perspective. The mobilization of large amounts of non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) leads to an increase in NEFA uptake in the liver, the excess of which can cause hepatic accumulation of lipids and ultimately fatty liver. Interestingly, peripartum NEFA activate the Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptor (PPAR), a transcriptional regulator with known nutrigenomic properties. The study of PPAR activation in the liver of periparturient dairy cows is thus crucial; however, current in vitro models of the bovine liver are inadequate, and the isolation of primary hepatocytes is time consuming, resource intensive, and prone to errors, with the resulting cells losing characteristic phenotypical traits within hours. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the use of precision-cut liver slices (PCLS) from liver biopsies as a model for PPAR activation in periparturient dairy cows. Three primiparous Jersey cows were enrolled in the experiment, and PCLS from each were prepared prepartum (−8.0 ± 3.6 DIM) and postpartum (+7.7± 1.2 DIM) and treated independently with a variety of PPAR agonists and antagonists: the PPARα agonist WY-14643 and antagonist GW-6471; the PPARδ agonist GW-50156 and antagonist GSK-3787; and the PPARγ agonist rosiglitazone and antagonist GW-9662. Gene expression was assayed through RT-qPCR and RNAseq, and intracellular triacylglycerol (TAG) concentration was measured. PCLS obtained from postpartum cows and treated with a PPARγ agonist displayed upregulation of ACADVL and LIPC while those treated with PPARδ agonist had increased expression of LIPC, PPARD, and PDK4. In PCLS from prepartum cows, transcription of LIPC was increased by all PPAR agonists and NEFA. TAG concentration tended to be larger in tissue slices treated with PPARδ agonist compared to CTR. Use of PPAR isotype-specific antagonists in PCLS cultivated in autologous blood serum failed to decrease expression of PPAR targets, except for PDK4, which was confirmed to be a PPARδ target. Transcriptome sequencing revealed considerable differences in response to PPAR agonists at a false discovery rate-adjusted p-value of 0.2, with the most notable effects exerted by the PPARδ and PPARγ agonists. Differentially expressed genes were mainly related to pathways involved with lipid metabolism and the immune response. Among differentially expressed genes, a subset of 91 genes were identified as novel putative PPAR targets in the bovine liver, by cross-referencing our results with a publicly available dataset of predicted PPAR target genes, and supplementing our findings with prior literature. Our results provide important insights on the use of PCLS as a model for assaying PPAR activation in the periparturient dairy cow.

An evaluation of maternal serum dynamic thiol-disulfide homeostasis and ischemia modified albumin changes in pregnant women with COVID-19

Objective:

It is thought that oxidative stress, free radicals, reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species affect the pathophysiology of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). This study aimed to evaluate the oxidative status in pregnant patients with COVID-19 infection according to the changes seen in the levels of maternal serum thiol-disulfide and ischemia-modified albumin (IMA).

Materials and Methods:

A study group was formed of 40 pregnant women with confirmed COVID-19 infection (study group) and a control group of 40 healthy pregnant women with no risk factors determined. In this prospective, case-controlled study, analyses were made of the maternal serum native thiol, total thiol, disulfide, IMA, and disulfide/native thiol concentrations.

Results:

The maternal serum native thiol and total thiol concentrations in the study group were determined to be statistically significantly lower (p=0.007 and p=0.006, respectively), and the disulfide/native thiol ratio was higher but not to a level of statistical significance (p=0.473). There was no difference between the two groups regarding IMA levels (p=0.731).

Conclusion:

The thiol-disulfide balance was seen to shift in the oxidant direction in pregnancies with COVID-19, which might support the view that ischemic processes play a role in the etiopathogenesis of this novel disease.

Influence of diabetes mellitus on free radical processes in the heart in rats with Guerin’s carcinoma and characteristics of malignant lesions depending on the gender of animals

To study the intensity of lipid peroxidation (LPO) and the activity of the main antioxidant protection enzyme: superoxide dismutase (SOD) in heart tissues and tumors in rats of both genders with Guerin’s carcinoma (GC) and the tumor growth against the background of diabetes mellitus (DM). Materials and methods. Our research work was carried out in 80 outbread albino male and female rats, divided into 4 groups, with 10 animals of each gender in a group. The animals of two groups, namely, an intact animal group and a group of rats treated with alloxan DM (with a 5-fold increase in glucose levels) were subcutaneously transplanted with the Guerin’s carcinoma (GC) strain cells, and at the same time we used one group of the intact rats and another group of the animals with DM as the references. The content of malondialdehyde (MDA), diene conjugates (DC), and the SOD activity in the heart and the tumor tissues were determined by conventional spectrophotometric methods. Results. The most pronounced changes were found in the heart in the female rats with isolated GC and GC growing against the background of DM: a more than threefold increase in MDA, with a significant increase in DC and a multiple increase in the SOD activity as compared with the intact animals. In the GC tissue, the dependence of the severity of the increase in the MDA content on the size of the tumor was traced: the maximum increase in both parameters was observed in males with GC tumor growing against the background of DM. In the males, the volume of the subcutaneous tumor nodes was 1.8 times greater than that in the reference group and in the females with combined pathology, while in the females with combined pathology the volume of their tumors was 1.3 times less than that in the reference group, although the area of tumor lesions in them was maximum due to extensive metastasizing. Conclusion. DM has changed the specifics of oncogenesis depending on the gender of the animals. The identified gender differences in the redox status of the heart and the tumor in rats with combined pathology contribute to specifics of oncogenesis in males and females and determines their life expectancy.

Mechanisms Mediating the Regulation of Peroxisomal Fatty Acid Beta-Oxidation by PPARα

In mammalian cells, two cellular organelles, mitochondria and peroxisomes, share the ability to degrade fatty acid chains. Although each organelle harbors its own fatty acid β-oxidation pathway, a distinct mitochondrial system feeds the oxidative phosphorylation pathway for ATP synthesis. At the same time, the peroxisomal β-oxidation pathway participates in cellular thermogenesis. A scientific milestone in 1965 helped discover the hepatomegaly effect in rat liver by clofibrate, subsequently identified as a peroxisome proliferator in rodents and an activator of the peroxisomal fatty acid β-oxidation pathway. These peroxisome proliferators were later identified as activating ligands of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor α (PPARα), cloned in 1990. The ligand-activated heterodimer PPARα/RXRα recognizes a DNA sequence, called PPRE (Peroxisome Proliferator Response Element), corresponding to two half-consensus hexanucleotide motifs, AGGTCA, separated by one nucleotide. Accordingly, the assembled complex containing PPRE/PPARα/RXRα/ligands/Coregulators controls the expression of the genes involved in liver peroxisomal fatty acid β-oxidation. This review mobilizes a considerable number of findings that discuss miscellaneous axes, covering the detailed expression pattern of PPARα in species and tissues, the lessons from several PPARα KO mouse models and the modulation of PPARα function by dietary micronutrients.

Proinflammation in maternal and fetal livers and circulating miR-122 dysregulation in a GDM rat model induced by intrauterine programming

In gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) pregnancies, a compromised fetal liver may impact offspring's metabolic health. Here, we aimed to address prooxidant, proinflammatory and profibrotic markers in the livers from GDM rats and their fetuses, and to analyze the expression of miR-122 (a relevant microRNA in liver pathophysiology) in fetal and maternal plasma of GDM rats, as well as in the fetal livers of neonatal streptozotocin-induced (nSTZ) diabetic rats, the rats that generate GDM through intrauterine programming. GDM and nSTZ rats were evaluated on day 21 of pregnancy. We found increased nitric oxide production and lipoperoxidation in the livers from GDM rats and their fetuses compared to controls. Livers from GDM fetuses also showed increased levels of connective tissue growth factor and matrix metalloproteinase-2. The expression of miRNA-122 was downregulated in the plasma from GDM rats and their male fetuses, as well as in the livers from male fetuses of nSTZ diabetic rats. miR-122 levels were regulated both in vitro through PPARγ activation and in vivo through a maternal diet enriched in PPAR ligands. Our findings revealed a prooxidant/proinflammatory environment in the livers from GDM rats and their fetuses and a dysregulation of miR-122, likely relevant in the programming of offspring's diseases.