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Developmental programming resulting from maternal obesity in mice: effects on myocardial ischaemia-reperfusion injury.
A comprehensive number of epidemiological and animal studies suggest that prenatal and early life events are important determinants for disorders later in life. Among them, prenatal stress (i.e. stress experienced by the pregnant mother with impact on the …
Publication
Using ultrasonography to define fetal-maternal relationships: moving from humans to mice.
Ultrasound scanning is a noninvasive, accurate, and cost-effective method to create images of the female reproductive tract clinically and in research. Ultrasonography is particularly valuable for studying the dynamic relationships among mother, placenta, …
Publication
Fetal rat hearts do not display acute cardiotoxicity in response to maternal Doxorubicin treatment.
Anthracyclines are used to treat cancers during the second and third trimester of pregnancy. The chemotherapeutic effect of anthracyclines is associated with a dose- and time-dependent cardiotoxicity that is well described for infants and adults. However, …
Publication
Regulation of maternal and fetal hemodynamics by heme oxygenase in mice.
Heme oxygenase (HMOX) regulates vascular tone and blood pressure through the production of carbon monoxide (CO), a vasodilator derived from the heme degradation pathway. During pregnancy, the maternal circulation undergoes significant adaptations to …
Publication
Effect of gestational diabetes on maternal artery function.
Endothelial dysfunction has been observed systemically in women with gestational diabetes (GDM). Important cardiovascular adaptations occur during pregnancy, including enhanced endothelium-dependent vasodilation in systemic and uterine arteries, which are …
Publication
Placental growth factor influences maternal cardiovascular adaptation to pregnancy in mice.
In healthy human pregnancies, placental growth factor (PGF) concentrations rise in maternal plasma during early gestation, peak over Weeks 26-30, then decline. Because PGF in nongravid subjects participates in protection against and recovery from cardiac …
Publication
Folate rescues lithium-, homocysteine- and Wnt3A-induced vertebrate cardiac anomalies.
Elevated plasma homocysteine (HCy), which results from folate (folic acid, FA) deficiency, and the mood-stabilizing drug lithium (Li) are both linked to the induction of human congenital heart and neural tube defects. We demonstrated previously that acute …
Publication
Evaluation of utero-placental and fetal hemodynamic parameters throughout gestation in pregnant mice using high-frequency ultrasound
Throughout gestation, changes in maternal and fetal Doppler parameters in pregnant mice, similar to those obtained in human fetuses, were detected using high-frequency ultrasound with a 55-MHz linear probe. In the uterine arteries (UtA), fetal umbilical …
Publication
Endothelial nitric oxide synthase deficiency reduces uterine blood flow, spiral artery elongation, and placental oxygenation in pregnant mice.
Preeclampsia is associated with impaired uteroplacental adaptations during pregnancy and abnormalities in the endothelial NO synthase (eNOS)-NO pathway, but whether eNOS deficiency plays a causal role is unknown. Thus, the objective of the current study …
Publication
Chronic carbon monoxide inhalation during pregnancy augments uterine artery blood flow and uteroplacental vascular growth in mice.
End-tidal breath carbon monoxide (CO) is abnormally low in women with preeclampsia (PE), while women smoking during pregnancy have shown an increase in CO levels and a 33% lower incidence of PE. This effect may be, in part, due to lowered sFLT1 plasma …