title: SHORT COMMUNICATION maternal thyroid dysfunction and c- fos and c- jun expression in rat placenta.
abstract: Maternal thyroid dysfunction is associated with perturbed fetal brain development and neurological deficits in adulthood in rat and human. To investigate whether these effects occur secondary to placental dysfunction, c- fos and c- jun expression in placenta from normal (euthyroid) and moderately hypothyroid rat dams were investigated by Northern hybridization analysis. In normal placenta, c- fos expression increased by 74 per cent between 16 and 21 days of gestation (dg) whereas c- jun expression declined by 46 per cent. Moderate maternal hypothyroidism depressed placental c- fos expression by 32 per cent at 19 dg, but elevated c- fos and c- jun expression by 139 and 86 per cent, respectively, at 21 dg. Maternal hypothyroidism may therefore induce c- fos/c- jun -related placental dysfunction, but only relatively late in gestation when fetal thyroid function is already established.
authors.affiliation: Division of Molecular Endocrinology, UCL Medical School, Mortimer Street, London, W1N 8AA, UK.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Leonard
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Pickard
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Sinha
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: I M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Ekins
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000502:physiology*; D016762:Genes, fos; D016758:Genes, jun; D007037:Hypothyroidism / Q000378:metabolism*; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange / Q000502:physiology*; D010920:Placenta / Q000378:metabolism*; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley