AQUAPORIN-9 IS EXPRESSED IN VILLOUS TROPHOBLAST MITOCHONDRIA.

CASTRO-PARODI MAURICIO; MEDINA, YOLLYSETH; SEYAHIAN, ABRIL; SZPILBARG, NATALIA; DAMIANO, ALICIA E

Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires

Congreso; International Federation of Placenta Associations (IFPA) meeting 2019; 2019

International Federation of Placenta Associations

Objectives: To explore the expression of aquaporin-9 (AQP9) in the heavy/large and light/small mitochondrial subpopulations that coexist in thevillous trophoblast of term placenta.Methods: This study was approved by the ethics committee of Hospital Nacional Prof. Dr. A. Posadas. Human chorionic villi were fragmented, and tissue was shaken in HES buffer (10 mM HEPES-KOH, 0.1 mM EGTA, 250 mM sucrose), pH 7.4, with protease inhibitors. Differential centrifugation was performed to obtain mitochondrial, microsomal and cytosolic fractions. From mitochondrial fraction, heavy/large and light/small mitochondrial populations were also isolated by differential centrifugation. Localization was confirmed by immunofluorescence assay.Results: Our results showed for the first time the expression and localizationof AQP9 in mitochondria of villous trophoblast from normal term placentas. In addition, we only found that AQP9 was expressed in the heavy/large mitochondrial subpopulation.Conclusion: AQP9 can function not only as a water channel but also as a peroxiporin. The presence of AQP9 in the heavy mitochondria fraction suggests that this protein may contribute to the regulation of mitochondrial matrix volume and facilitate the mitochondrial H2O2 release. Thus, an abnormal AQP9 expression may exacerbated oxidative stress and cell death, triggering pathological situations such as preeclampsia. Further studies are required to elucidate the role of AQP9 in villous trophoblast mitochondria.