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Flentke GR, Wilkie TE, Baulch J, Huang Y, Smith SM. Alcohol exposure suppresses ribosome biogenesis and causes nucleolar stress in cranial neural crest cells. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0304557. [PMID: 38941348 PMCID: PMC11213321 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0304557] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2023] [Accepted: 05/14/2024] [Indexed: 06/30/2024] Open
Abstract
Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) causes cognitive impairment and a distinctive craniofacial dysmorphology, due in part to apoptotic losses of the pluripotent cranial neural crest cells (CNCs) that form facial bones and cartilage. We previously reported that PAE rapidly represses expression of >70 ribosomal proteins (padj = 10-E47). Ribosome dysbiogenesis causes nucleolar stress and activates p53-MDM2-mediated apoptosis. Using primary avian CNCs and the murine CNC line O9-1, we tested whether nucleolar stress and p53-MDM2 signaling mediates this apoptosis. We further tested whether haploinsufficiency in genes that govern ribosome biogenesis, using a blocking morpholino approach, synergizes with alcohol to worsen craniofacial outcomes in a zebrafish model. In both avian and murine CNCs, pharmacologically relevant alcohol exposure (20mM, 2hr) causes the dissolution of nucleolar structures and the loss of rRNA synthesis; this nucleolar stress persisted for 18-24hr. This was followed by reduced proliferation, stabilization of nuclear p53, and apoptosis that was prevented by overexpression of MDM2 or dominant-negative p53. In zebrafish embryos, low-dose alcohol or morpholinos directed against ribosomal proteins Rpl5a, Rpl11, and Rps3a, the Tcof homolog Nolc1, or mdm2 separately caused modest craniofacial malformations, whereas these blocking morpholinos synergized with low-dose alcohol to reduce and even eliminate facial elements. Similar results were obtained using a small molecule inhibitor of RNA Polymerase 1, CX5461, whereas p53-blocking morpholinos normalized craniofacial outcomes under high-dose alcohol. Transcriptome analysis affirmed that alcohol suppressed the expression of >150 genes essential for ribosome biogenesis. We conclude that alcohol causes the apoptosis of CNCs, at least in part, by suppressing ribosome biogenesis and invoking a nucleolar stress that initiates their p53-MDM2 mediated apoptosis. We further note that the facial deficits that typify PAE and some ribosomopathies share features including reduced philtrum, upper lip, and epicanthal distance, suggesting the facial deficits of PAE represent, in part, a ribosomopathy.
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Affiliation(s)
- George R. Flentke
- UNC Nutrition Research Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kannapolis, NC, United States of America
| | - Thomas E. Wilkie
- UNC Nutrition Research Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kannapolis, NC, United States of America
| | - Josh Baulch
- UNC Nutrition Research Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kannapolis, NC, United States of America
| | - Yanping Huang
- UNC Nutrition Research Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kannapolis, NC, United States of America
| | - Susan M. Smith
- UNC Nutrition Research Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kannapolis, NC, United States of America
- Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kannapolis, NC, United States of America
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Deyssenroth MA, Williams RP, Lesseur C, Jacobson SW, Jacobson JL, Cheng H, Bose P, Li Q, Wainwright H, Meintjes EM, Hao K, Chen J, Carter RC. Prenatal alcohol exposure is associated with changes in placental gene co-expression networks. Sci Rep 2024; 14:2687. [PMID: 38302628 PMCID: PMC10834523 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-52737-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2023] [Accepted: 01/23/2024] [Indexed: 02/03/2024] Open
Abstract
Alcohol consumption during pregnancy can result in a range of adverse postnatal outcomes among exposed children. However, identifying at-risk children is challenging given the difficulty to confirm prenatal alcohol exposure and the lack of early diagnostic tools. Placental surveys present an important opportunity to uncover early biomarkers to identify those at risk. Here, we report the first transcriptome-wide evaluation to comprehensively evaluate human placental pathways altered by fetal alcohol exposure. In a prospective longitudinal birth cohort in Cape Town, South Africa, we performed bulk tissue RNAseq in placenta samples from 32 women reporting heavy drinking during pregnancy and 30 abstainers/light drinkers. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and differential gene expression analysis were performed to assess associations between fetal alcohol exposure and placental gene expression patterns at a network-wide and single gene level, respectively. The results revealed altered expression in genes related to erythropoiesis and angiogenesis, which are implicated in established postnatal phenotypes related to alcohol exposure, including disruptions in iron homeostasis, growth, and neurodevelopment. The reported findings provide insights into the molecular pathways affected by prenatal alcohol exposure and highlight the potential of placental biomarkers for detecting and understanding the effects of alcohol on fetal development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maya A Deyssenroth
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Randy P Williams
- Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Corina Lesseur
- Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Sandra W Jacobson
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
- Department of Human Biology, University of Cape Town Faculty of Health Sciences, Cape Town, South Africa
- Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Joseph L Jacobson
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
- Department of Human Biology, University of Cape Town Faculty of Health Sciences, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Haoxiang Cheng
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Promita Bose
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Qian Li
- Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Helen Wainwright
- Department of Pathology, National Health Laboratory Service, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Ernesta M Meintjes
- Department of Human Biology, University of Cape Town Faculty of Health Sciences, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Ke Hao
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Jia Chen
- Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - R Colin Carter
- Department of Human Biology, University of Cape Town Faculty of Health Sciences, Cape Town, South Africa.
- Departments of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics, Institute of Human Nutrition, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA.
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Saini N, Mooney SM, Smith SM. Alcohol blunts pregnancy-mediated insulin resistance and reduces fetal brain glucose despite elevated fetal gluconeogenesis, and these changes associate with fetal weight outcomes. FASEB J 2023; 37:e23172. [PMID: 37665328 PMCID: PMC11167647 DOI: 10.1096/fj.202300788r] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2023] [Revised: 08/01/2023] [Accepted: 08/09/2023] [Indexed: 09/05/2023]
Abstract
Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) impairs fetal growth and neurodevelopment. Although alcohol is well known to alter metabolism, its impact on these processes during pregnancy is largely unexplored. Here, we investigate how alcohol affects maternal-fetal glucose metabolism using our established mouse binge model of PAE. In the dam, alcohol reduces the hepatic abundance of glucose and glycolytic intermediates, and the gluconeogenic enzymes glucose-6-phosphtase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase. Fasting blood glucose is also reduced. In a healthy pregnancy, elevated maternal gluconeogenesis and insulin resistance ensures glucose availability for the fetus. Glucose and insulin tolerance tests reveal that alcohol impairs the dam's ability to acquire insulin resistance. Alcohol-exposed dams have enhanced glucose clearance (p < .05) in early gestation, after just two days of alcohol, and this persists through late term when fetal glucose needs are maximal. However, maternal plasma insulin levels, hepatic insulin signaling, and the abundance of glucose transporter proteins remain unchanged. In the PAE fetus, the expression of hepatic gluconeogenic genes is elevated, and there is a trend for elevated blood and liver glucose levels. In contrast, fetal brain and placental glucose levels remain low. This reduced maternal fasting glucose, reduced hepatic glucose, and elevated glucose clearance inversely correlated with fetal body and brain weight. Taken together, these data suggest that alcohol blunts the adaptive changes in maternal glucose metabolism that otherwise enhance fetal glucose availability. Compensatory attempts by the fetus to increase glucose pools via gluconeogenesis do not normalize brain glucose. These metabolic changes may contribute to the impaired fetal growth and brain development that typifies PAE.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nipun Saini
- Nutrition Research Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA
| | - Sandra M. Mooney
- Nutrition Research Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA
- Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA
| | - Susan M. Smith
- Nutrition Research Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA
- Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA
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Upreti D, Rouzer SK, Bowring A, Labbe E, Kumar R, Miranda RC, Mahnke AH. Microbiota and nutrition as risk and resiliency factors following prenatal alcohol exposure. Front Neurosci 2023; 17:1182635. [PMID: 37397440 PMCID: PMC10308314 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1182635] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2023] [Accepted: 05/23/2023] [Indexed: 07/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Alcohol exposure in adulthood can result in inflammation, malnutrition, and altered gastroenteric microbiota, which may disrupt efficient nutrient extraction. Clinical and preclinical studies have documented convincingly that prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) also results in persistent inflammation and nutrition deficiencies, though research on the impact of PAE on the enteric microbiota is in its infancy. Importantly, other neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders, have been linked to gut microbiota dysbiosis. The combined evidence from alcohol exposure in adulthood and from other neurodevelopmental disorders supports the hypothesis that gut microbiota dysbiosis is likely an etiological feature that contributes to negative developmental, including neurodevelopmental, consequences of PAE and results in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Here, we highlight published data that support a role for gut microbiota in healthy development and explore the implication of these studies for the role of altered microbiota in the lifelong health consequences of PAE.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Amanda H. Mahnke
- Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics, Texas A&M University School of Medicine, Bryan, TX, United States
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