Environmental enrichment: An experimental approach to evaluate the importance of maternal lifestyle before and during pregnancy

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

CABA

Simposio; IFPA & SLIMP 2019; 2019

Maternal lifestyle affects both maternal health and pregnancy outcome in humans. Several studies have demonstrated that interventions oriented towards 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 proposed the environmental enrichment (EE), defined as a noninvasive and biological significant stimulus of the sensory pathway combined with voluntary physical activity, that prevented preterm birth (PTB) rate in a 41% in an inflammatory mouse model induced by the systemic administration of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Furthermore, we found that EE modulates maternal metabolism and produces an anti-inflammatory environment 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 oxide synthase (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. Finally, we demonstrated that the enrichment of the maternal environment protects the offspring against the deleterious effect of the intrauterine inflammatory environment. We proposed that EE exposure could mimic the stress and anxiety-reducing techniques mentioned above, explaining, at least partially, the beneficial effects of having a healthy lifestyle before and during gestation.