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The effect of maternal undernutrition on the rat placental transcriptome: protein restriction up-regulates cholesterol transport

Daniel, Zoe; Swali, Angelina; Emes, Richard D.; Langley-Evans, Simon C.

The effect of maternal undernutrition on the rat placental transcriptome: protein restriction up-regulates cholesterol transport Thumbnail


Authors

Zoe Daniel

Richard D. Emes

Simon C. Langley-Evans



Abstract

Fetal exposure to a maternal low protein diet during rat pregnancy is associated with hypertension, renal dysfunction and metabolic disturbance in adult life. These effects are present when dietary manipulations target only the first half of pregnancy. It was hypothesised that early gestation protein restriction would impact upon placental gene expression and that this may give clues to the mechanism which links maternal diet to later consequences. Pregnant rats were fed control or a low protein diet from conception to day 13 gestation. Placentas were collected and RNA Sequencing performed using the Illumina platform. Protein restriction down-regulated 67 genes and up-regulated 24 genes in the placenta. Ingenuity pathway analysis showed significant enrichment in pathways related to cholesterol and lipoprotein transport and metabolism, including atherosclerosis signalling, clathrin-mediated endocytosis, LXR/RXR and FXR/RXR activation. Genes at the centre of these processes included the apolipoproteins ApoB, ApoA2 and ApoC2, microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (Mttp), the clathrin-endocytosis receptor cubilin, the transcription factor retinol binding protein 4 (Rbp4) and transerythrin (Ttr; a retinol and thyroid hormone transporter). Real-time PCR measurements largely confirmed the findings of RNASeq and indicated that the impact of protein restriction was often striking (cubilin up-regulated 32-fold, apoC2 up-regulated 17.6-fold). The findings show that gene expression in specific pathways is modulated by maternal protein restriction in the day-13 rat placenta. Changes in cholesterol transport may contribute to altered tissue development in the fetus and hence programme risk of disease in later life.

Citation

Daniel, Z., Swali, A., Emes, R. D., & Langley-Evans, S. C. (2016). The effect of maternal undernutrition on the rat placental transcriptome: protein restriction up-regulates cholesterol transport. Genes and Nutrition, 11(27), https://doi.org/10.1186/s12263-016-0541-3

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 14, 2016
Online Publication Date Oct 12, 2016
Publication Date Dec 1, 2016
Deposit Date Sep 26, 2016
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Genes and Nutrition
Print ISSN 1555-8932
Electronic ISSN 1865-3499
Publisher Springer Verlag
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 11
Issue 27
DOI https://doi.org/10.1186/s12263-016-0541-3
Keywords Placenta, Transcriptome, Pregnancy, Protein restriction, Undernutrition, Cholesterol
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/825399
Publisher URL http://genesandnutrition.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12263-016-0541-3

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