IIBIO   27936
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES BIOTECNOLOGICAS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Maternal-fetal communication of stressful signals via extracellular vesicles
Autor/es:
ELIANA FERNANDEZ; MELISA C MONTELEONE; BROCCO, MARCELA A.; BILLI, SILVIA C.
Lugar:
Buenos Aires
Reunión:
Congreso; IFPA 2019- VIII SLIMP; 2019
Institución organizadora:
IFPA
Resumen:
Objective: Evidence show that chronic stress exposure during pregnancy may affect the developing fetal brain increasing disease risk. Therefore, finding stress signals that are transmitted from mother to child can help detect stress effects on early stages and prevent disease onset. A candidate stress signal is the neuronal glycoprotein M6a, which levels are altered in the brain of prenatally stressed offspring. Moreover, after stress, serum M6a levels mirror brain changes suggesting that brain information can be read in peripheral fluids. Interestingly, in cerebrospinal fluid and serum, M6a circulates coupled to extracellular vesicles (EVs).We hypothesize that maternal EVs carrying M6a could travel or accumulate in placenta as a mean to transmit stress to the fetus. We sought to analyze the transference of EV-associated stress molecule between mother and fetus.Methods: Pregnant C57Bl/6J dams were subjected to a variable stress paradigm from gestational day (GD) 8 to GD17 (PS group) or left undisturbed (C group). Dams were sacrificed on GD18. Maternal blood and hippocampi, placenta, amniotic fluid and fetal hippocampi were collected. M6a expression from PS and C groups was tested by Western blot.Results: Compared to control dams, we found in the maternal brain and placentas of PS group increased M6a levels. Interestingly, in comparison to control, PS amniotic fluid and fetal hippocampus showed reduced M6a levels. Since M6a is coupled to EVs, our ongoing work will determine if maternal circulating EVs from PS and C groups carry different molecules.Conclusions: Differences between control and stressed individuals suggest that M6a per se or molecules co-transported with it could be one way to transmit stress signal to fetus. Such molecules could be used as early markers of stress.