NEONATAL INCREASED ASTHMA RISK CAUSED BY MATERNAL STRESS PERSISTS THROUGH ADULTHOOD AND PROPAGATES TO THE SECOND GENERATION

ALDIRICO MA; F GIORGIO; A SOTO; M PERRONE SIBILIA; N ARCON; M PICCHIO; V SANCHEZ; G RATTAY; R MORETTA; V MARTÍN; A GOLDMAN; I FENOY

Mar del Plata

Congreso; LXVI Reunión Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Inmunología 2018; 2018

SAI

RATIONALE: We have shown that maternal stress duringpregnancy results in an increase of litter susceptibility to develop allergiclung inflammation. In this work we aim to study how stable is this phenomenon. METHODS: To see if the increased asthma risk continuesthrough adulthood, pregnant BALB/c mice(day 15) were subjected to restraintstress exposures. Pups were separated by gender and treated with two i.p.injection of ovalbumin (OVA)/alum(day 4 and 47), challenged with antigenaerosol(days 50-52) and euthanized(day 54) (SF;SM). Negative controls includedpups of non-stressed dams subjected to the same protocol (CF;CM) or i.p.sensitized and aerosol challenged with PBS(PBS). To evaluate the intergenerationalsusceptibility, 6-weeks female pups (F1) from stressed and non-stresseddams(F0) were mated. Their pups (F2) were treated with an i.p. injection ofOVA/alum(day 4) before antigen aerosol challenge(days 12-14) and euthanized(day16) (S). Negative controls included F2 from non-stressed F0 subjected to thesame protocol (C) or i.p. sensitized and aerosol challenged with PBS (PBS).               RESULTS: In adult F1, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) ofstressed-dams female progeny had increased eosinophils percentage compared tonon-stressed dams progeny (SF=15.53±2.942/CF=1.825±0.648)(p<0.05). This resultcorrelates with lung histopathological alterations, a trend to decrease IL-5levels in BAL (SF=2.313±2.313/CF=41.09±18.46)(p<0.06) and no differences inOVA-specific antibodies levels.F2 from stressed, but not control F0, showedhigher BAL eosinophils percentage   (S=5.65±0.90/C:1.7±0.6)(p<0.01)and pathological changes of lung allergic inflammation. There were nodifferences in serum IgE levels but an increase in anti-OVA IgG1 (S=1.219±0.381/C=0.177±0.092)(p<0.05)and IgG2a antibodies (S=0.044±0,014 /C=0.012±0,002)(p<0.01) were detected inS group compared to C group. These changes were accompanied by higher levels ofIL-4 in BAL (S=40.6±10.49/C=14.94±5.19)(p<0.0525) while IFN-γ levels did not change.CONCLUSIONS:These results show that the increased litter susceptibility to develop allergic lunginflammation continues through adulthood in female mice and it is alsotransmitted to the next generation.