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Martz J, Shelton MA, Geist L, Seney ML, Kentner AC. Sex differences in offspring risk and resilience following 11β-hydroxylase antagonism in a rodent model of maternal immune activation. Neuropsychopharmacology 2024; 49:1078-1090. [PMID: 38007547 PMCID: PMC11109257 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-023-01771-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2023] [Revised: 10/21/2023] [Accepted: 11/08/2023] [Indexed: 11/27/2023]
Abstract
Maternal immune activation (MIA) puts offspring at greater risk for neurodevelopmental disorders associated with impaired social behavior. While it is known that immune signaling through maternal, placental, and fetal compartments contributes to these phenotypical changes, it is unknown to what extent the stress response to illness is involved and how it can be harnessed for potential interventions. To this end, on gestational day 15, pregnant rat dams were administered the bacterial mimetic lipopolysaccharide (LPS; to induce MIA) alongside metyrapone, a clinically available 11β-hydroxylase (11βHSD) inhibitor used to treat hypercortisolism in pregnant, lactating, and neonatal populations. Maternal, placental, and fetal brain levels of corticosterone and placental 11βHSD enzymes type 1 and 2 were measured 3-hrs post treatment. Offspring social behaviors were evaluated across critical phases of development. MIA was associated with increased maternal, placental, and fetal brain corticosterone concentrations that were diminished with metyrapone exposure. Metyrapone protected against reductions in placental 11βHSD2 in males only, suggesting that less corticosterone was inactivated in female placentas. Behaviorally, metyrapone-exposure attenuated MIA-induced social disruptions in juvenile, adolescent, and adult males, while females were unaffected or performed worse. Metyrapone-exposure reversed MIA-induced transcriptional changes in monoamine-, glutamate-, and GABA-related genes in adult male ventral hippocampus, but not in females. Taken together, these findings illustrate that MIA-induced HPA responses act alongside the immune system to produce behavioral deficits. As a clinically available drug, the sex-specific benefits and constraints of metyrapone should be investigated further as a potential means of reducing neurodevelopmental risks due to gestational MIA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Martz
- School of Arts & Sciences, Health Psychology Program, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Micah A Shelton
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, 450 Technology Drive, Pittsburgh, PA, 15219, USA
| | - Laurel Geist
- School of Arts & Sciences, Health Psychology Program, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Marianne L Seney
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, 450 Technology Drive, Pittsburgh, PA, 15219, USA
| | - Amanda C Kentner
- School of Arts & Sciences, Health Psychology Program, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
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Schroeder M, Fuenzalida B, Yi N, Shahnawaz S, Gertsch J, Pellegata D, Ontsouka E, Leiva A, Gutiérrez J, Müller M, Brocco MA, Albrecht C. LAT1-dependent placental methionine uptake is a key player in fetal programming of metabolic disease. Metabolism 2024; 153:155793. [PMID: 38295946 DOI: 10.1016/j.metabol.2024.155793] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2023] [Revised: 12/11/2023] [Accepted: 01/09/2024] [Indexed: 02/06/2024]
Abstract
The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease hypothesis sustains that exposure to different stressors during prenatal development prepares the offspring for the challenges to be encountered after birth. We studied the gestational period as a particularly vulnerable window where different stressors can have strong implications for fetal programming of the offspring's life-long metabolic status via alterations of specific placentally expressed nutrient transporters. To study this mechanism, we used a murine prenatal stress model, human preeclampsia, early miscarriage, and healthy placental tissue samples, in addition to in vitro models of placental cells. In stressed mice, placental overexpression of L-type amino acid transporter 1 (Lat1) and subsequent global placental DNA hypermethylation was accompanied by fetal and adult hypothalamic dysregulation in global DNA methylation and gene expression as well as long-term metabolic abnormalities exclusively in female offspring. In human preeclampsia, early miscarriage, and under hypoxic conditions, placental LAT1 was significantly upregulated, leading to increased methionine uptake and global DNA hypermethylation. Remarkably, subgroups of healthy term placentas with high expression of stress-related genes presented increased levels of placental LAT1 mRNA and protein, DNA and RNA hypermethylation, increased methionine uptake capacity, one-carbon metabolic pathway disruption, higher methionine concentration in the placenta and transport to the fetus specifically in females. Since LAT1 mediates the intracellular accumulation of methionine, global DNA methylation, and one-carbon metabolism in the placenta, our findings hint at a major sex-specific global response to a variety of prenatal stressors affecting placental function, epigenetic programming, and life-long metabolic disease and provide a much-needed insight into early-life factors predisposing females/women to metabolic disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariana Schroeder
- Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of Bern, Switzerland; Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research, NCCR TransCure, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
| | - Barbara Fuenzalida
- Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of Bern, Switzerland
| | - Nan Yi
- Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of Bern, Switzerland
| | - Saira Shahnawaz
- Department of Biochemistry, Sargodha Medical College, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan; Department of Allied Health Sciences, Sargodha Medical College, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan
| | - Jürg Gertsch
- Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of Bern, Switzerland; Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research, NCCR TransCure, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Daniele Pellegata
- Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of Bern, Switzerland
| | - Edgar Ontsouka
- Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of Bern, Switzerland
| | - Andrea Leiva
- Faculty of Medicine and Science, Universidad of San Sebastian, Santiago, Chile
| | - Jaime Gutiérrez
- Faculty of Medicine and Science, Universidad of San Sebastian, Santiago, Chile
| | - Martin Müller
- Division of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Lindenhofgruppe, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Marcela A Brocco
- Institute of Biotechnological Research, University of San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Christiane Albrecht
- Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of Bern, Switzerland; Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research, NCCR TransCure, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
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Sze Y, Brunton PJ. How is prenatal stress transmitted from the mother to the fetus? J Exp Biol 2024; 227:jeb246073. [PMID: 38449331 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.246073] [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] [Indexed: 03/08/2024]
Abstract
Prenatal stress programmes long-lasting neuroendocrine and behavioural changes in the offspring. Often this programming is maladaptive and sex specific. For example, using a rat model of maternal social stress in late pregnancy, we have demonstrated that adult prenatally stressed male, but not prenatally stressed female offspring display heightened anxiety-like behaviour, whereas both sexes show hyperactive hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis responses to stress. Here, we review the current knowledge of the mechanisms underpinning dysregulated HPA axis responses, including evidence supporting a role for reduced neurosteroid-mediated GABAergic inhibitory signalling in the brains of prenatally stressed offspring. How maternal psychosocial stress is signalled from the mother to the fetuses is unclear. Direct transfer of maternal glucocorticoids to the fetuses is often considered to mediate the programming effects of maternal stress on the offspring. However, protective mechanisms including attenuated maternal stress responses and placental 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase-2 (which inactivates glucocorticoids) should limit materno-fetal glucocorticoid transfer during pregnancy. Moreover, a lack of correlation between maternal stress, circulating maternal glucocorticoid levels and circulating fetal glucocorticoid levels is reported in several studies and across different species. Therefore, here we interrogate the evidence for a role for maternal glucocorticoids in mediating the effects of maternal stress on the offspring and consider the evidence for alternative mechanisms, including an indirect role for glucocorticoids and the contribution of changes in the placenta in signalling the stress status of the mother to the fetus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ying Sze
- Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences, Hugh Robson Building, University of Edinburgh, George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9XD, UK
| | - Paula J Brunton
- Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences, Hugh Robson Building, University of Edinburgh, George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9XD, UK
- Zhejiang University-University of Edinburgh Joint Institute, Haining, Zhejiang 314400, P.R. China
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Chen Z, Xia LP, Shen L, Xu D, Guo Y, Wang H. Glucocorticoids and intrauterine programming of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Metabolism 2024; 150:155713. [PMID: 37914025 DOI: 10.1016/j.metabol.2023.155713] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2023] [Revised: 10/17/2023] [Accepted: 10/20/2023] [Indexed: 11/03/2023]
Abstract
Accumulating epidemiological and experimental evidence indicates that nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has an intrauterine origin. Fetuses exposed to adverse prenatal environments (e.g., maternal malnutrition and xenobiotic exposure) are more susceptible to developing NAFLD after birth. Glucocorticoids are crucial triggers of the developmental programming of fetal-origin diseases. Adverse intrauterine environments often lead to fetal overexposure to maternally derived glucocorticoids, which can program fetal hepatic lipid metabolism through epigenetic modifications. Adverse intrauterine environments program the offspring's glucocorticoid-insulin-like growth factor 1 (GC-IGF1) axis, which contributes to postnatal catch-up growth and disturbs glucose and lipid metabolism. These glucocorticoid-driven programming alterations increase susceptibility to NAFLD in the offspring. Notably, after delivery, offspring often face an environment distinct from their in utero life. The mismatch between the intrauterine and postnatal environments can serve as a postnatal hit that further disturbs the programmed endocrine axes, accelerating the onset of NAFLD. In this review, we summarize the current epidemiological and experimental evidence demonstrating that NAFLD has an intrauterine origin and discuss the underlying intrauterine programming mechanisms, focusing on the role of overexposure to maternally derived glucocorticoids. We also briefly discuss potential early life interventions that may be beneficial against fetal-originated NAFLD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ze Chen
- Department of Pharmacology, Wuhan University School of Basic Medical Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; Department of Cardiology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
| | - Li-Ping Xia
- Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Developmentally Originated Disease, Wuhan 430071, China
| | - Lang Shen
- Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Developmentally Originated Disease, Wuhan 430071, China
| | - Dan Xu
- Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Developmentally Originated Disease, Wuhan 430071, China; Department of Pharmacy, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China
| | - Yu Guo
- Department of Pharmacology, Wuhan University School of Basic Medical Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Developmentally Originated Disease, Wuhan 430071, China
| | - Hui Wang
- Department of Pharmacology, Wuhan University School of Basic Medical Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Developmentally Originated Disease, Wuhan 430071, China.
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