MATERNAL ENRICHMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT PROTECTS THEOFFSPRING AGAINST LPS-INDUCED INFLAMMATION DURINGGESTATION: ARE THE PLACENTAS DIFFERENT?

SCHANDER, JULIETA AYLEN; MARVALDI, CAROLINA; DE LA CRUZ, FERNANDA; AISEMBERG, JULIETA; JENSEN, FEDERICO; FRANCHI, ANA MARIA

CABA

Congreso; IFPA 2019- VIII SLIMP; 2019

Objectives:The aim was to evaluate the effects of bacterial lipopolysac-charide (LPS) administration and enrichment of the environment (EE) ofthe mother in development and adult health of the offspring.Methods:We have previously demonstrated that maternal exposition toan EE reduces LPS-induced preterm birth (PTB) rate in a mice model.EE protocol consisted in housing females in big cages containing objectsthat provided optimal conditions for social interaction, further exploration,visual, cognitive, and voluntary exercise activity. Standard conditions (CE)consisted of standard cages housing 4 animals. After 6 weeks females weremated and pregnant females returned to EE (or CE) until day 15 of preg-nancy, when LPS (or saline solution) was administered intraperitoneally. Agroup of females were euthanized to evaluate fetal and placental weightand collect tissues. Another group was allowed to continue gestation toterm to evaluate the offspring.Results:We observed that EE modulates maternal physiology, reducingweight gain during EE stay and triglyceride and cholesterol serum levels(p<0.05). During lactation, we did not found differences in the weight gain,but CE-LPS group presented 67% of perinatal death, which was notobserved in EE-LPS treated group. Furthermore, a group of pups from CE-LPS treated mothers presented a delay in physical landmarks. In adultoffspring, we observed that LPS increased triglyceride and cholesterollevels in both CE and EE groups and no differences in body weight wereobserved. On 15thday of pregnancy, we found that placental weight wassignificantly lower in EE fetuses, whereas fetal/placental ratio was notdifferent between groups. Furthermore, preliminary results showed thatthe histological morphology of the placentas obtained from EE motherswas different when compared to CE ones.Conclusion:Our results showed a protective effect of the enrichment ofthe environment of the mother on pregnancy outcome and offspring?sdevelopment against an inflammatory challenge.