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Global Uterine and Blastocyst Gene Expression Patterns Associated with Maternal Overweight at Conception
Author(s) -
Shankar Kartik,
Zhong Ying,
Kang Ping,
Andres Aline,
Ronis Martin J,
Badger Thomas M
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.25.1_supplement.990.10
Subject(s) - biology , blastocyst , gene expression , andrology , dna microarray , embryo , microarray , endocrinology , gene , medicine , embryogenesis , genetics
We examined the impact of maternal overweight (OW) on gene expression in the uterus and peri‐implantation blastocysts using microarrays. At dpc 4.5, blastocysts were collected from lean and OW female rats, and mRNA and genomic DNA isolated from individual blastocysts (~70–80/group). Sex was determined using nested PCR for the Y‐chromosome and gender‐specific gene expression analysis was carried out using Affymetrix microarrays (N = 3–4 arrays/group). Uterine gene expression was also assessed (N = 6–8 per group) and data analysis performed using GeneSpring v11.0. Exposure to maternal obesity altered 407 transcripts (± 1.3‐fold, p < 0.05) in the uterus. GO analyses revealed immune response and chemokine‐related functions as most significantly affected. Increased mRNA expression of TLR2, CCL2, CCL5, CxCL10 and Ccr1 (p<0.05) was confirmed by real‐time PCR. Blastocyst gene expression was clearly influenced by maternal adiposity (transcripts altered ± 1.4‐fold, p < 0.05; 359 in male and 291 in female embryos). Male embryos showed increased expression of proinflammatory genes (CCL4, CCL5) and decreased mRNA of Gpx3. However, the influence of maternal obesity on embryonic gene expression was highly sexually dimorphic (only ~10% transcripts in common). Our results suggest that mechanisms related to programming of offspring obesity maybe initiated very early in development. UDSA ARS‐CRIS 6251‐51000‐005‐00D.