Gene profiling of maternal hepatic adaptations to pregnancy.
BACKGROUND
Maternal metabolic demands change dramatically during the course of gestation and must be co-ordinated with the needs of the developing placenta and fetus. The liver is critically involved in metabolism and other important functions. However, maternal hepatic adjustments to pregnancy are poorly understood.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of the study was to evaluate the influences of pregnancy on the maternal liver growth and gene expression profile.


METHODS
Holtzman Sprague-Dawley rats were mated and sacrificed at various stages of gestation and post-partum. The maternal livers were analysed in gravimetric response, DNA content by PicoGreen dsDNA quantitation reagent, hepatocyte ploidy by flow cytometry and hepatocyte proliferation by ki-67 immunostaining. Gene expression profiling of non-pregnant and gestation d18.5 maternal hepatic tissue was analysed using a DNA microarray approach and partially verified by northern blot or quantitative real-time PCR analysis.


RESULTS
During pregnancy, the liver exhibited approximately an 80% increase in size, proportional to the increase in body weight of the pregnant animals. The pregnancy-induced hepatomegaly was a physiological event of liver growth manifested by increases in maternal hepatic DNA content and hepatocyte proliferation. Pregnancy did not affect hepatocyte polyploidization. Pregnancy-dependent changes in hepatic expression were noted for a number of genes, including those associated with cell proliferation, cytokine signalling, liver regeneration and metabolism.


CONCLUSIONS
The metabolic demands of pregnancy cause marked adjustments in maternal liver physiology. Central to these adjustments are an expansion in hepatic capacity and changes in hepatic gene expression. Our findings provide insights into pregnancy-dependent hepatic adaptations.
Bustamante
Juan J
JJ
Departments of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Division of Cancer & Developmental Biology, Institute of Maternal-Fetal Biology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA.
Copple
Bryan L
BL
Soares
Michael J
MJ
Dai
Guoli
G
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000378:metabolism; D008099:Liver / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D004247:DNA