The enrichment of maternal environment prevents pre-term birth in a mice model

SCHANDER, JULIETA AYLEN; AISEMBERG, JULIETA; CORREA, FERNANDO; WOLFSON, MANUEL LUIS; JURIOL, LORENA; CYMERYNG, CORA; JENSEN, FEDERICO; FRANCHI, ANA MARÍA

REPRODUCTION

BIOSCIENTIFICA LTD

Año: 2020 vol. 159 p. 479 - 492

1470-1626

Maternal lifestyle affects both mother health and pregnancy outcome in humans. Several studies have demonstrated thatinterventions oriented toward reducing stress and anxiety have positive effects on pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia,excessive gestational weight, gestational diabetes and preterm birth. In this work, we showed that the environmental enrichment (EE),defined as a noninvasive and biologically significant stimulus of the sensory pathway combined with voluntary physical activity,prevented preterm birth (PTB) rate by 40% in an inflammatory mouse model induced by the systemic administration of bacteriallipopolysaccharide (LPS). Furthermore, we found that EE modulates maternal metabolism and produces an anti-inflammatoryenvironment that contributes to pregnancy maintenance. In pregnant mice uterus, EE reduces the expression of TLR4 and CD14(the LPS receptor and its coactivator protein), preventing the LPS-induced increase in PGE2 and PGF2α release and nitric oxidesynthase (NOS) activity. In cervical tissue, EE inhibits cervical ripening events, such as PGE2 release, matrix metalloproteinase(MMP)-9 increased activity and neutrophil recruitment, therefore conserving cervical function. It seems that EE exposure couldmimic the stress and anxiety-reducing techniques mentioned above, explaining, at least partially, the beneficial effects of having ahealthy lifestyle before and during gestation. Furthermore, we propose that designing an EE protocol for humans could be anoninvasive and preventive therapy for pregnancy complications, averting pre-term birth occurrence and dreaded sequelae that arepresent in the offspring born too soon.