title: Altered gene expression and spongiotrophoblast differentiation in placenta from a mouse model of diabetes in pregnancy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Pregnancies complicated by diabetes have a higher risk of adverse outcomes for mothers and children, including predisposition to disease later in life, e.g. metabolic syndrome and hypertension. We hypothesised that adverse outcomes from diabetic pregnancies may be linked to compromised placental function, and sought to identify cellular and molecular abnormalities in diabetic placenta.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using a mouse model of diabetic pregnancy, placental gene expression was assayed at mid-gestation and cellular composition analysed at various stages. Genome-wide expression profiling was validated by quantitative PCR and tissue localisation studies were performed to identify cellular correlates of altered gene expression in diabetic placenta.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We detected significantly altered gene expression in diabetic placenta for genes expressed in the maternal and those expressed in the embryonic compartments. We also found altered cellular composition of the decidual compartment. In addition, the junctional and labyrinth layers were reduced in diabetic placenta, accompanied by aberrant differentiation of spongiotrophoblast cells.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Diabetes during pregnancy alters transcriptional profiles in the murine placenta, affecting cells of embryonic and maternal origin, and involving several genes not previously implicated in diabetic pregnancies. The molecular changes and abnormal differentiation of multiple cell types precede impaired growth of junctional zone and labyrinth, and of placenta overall. Regardless of whether these changes represent direct responses to hyperglycaemia or are physiological adaptations, they are likely to play a role in pregnancy complications and outcomes, and to have implications for developmental origins of adult disease.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Regulation of Gene Expression, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Salbaum
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kruger
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: N Arbour
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Delahaye
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pavlinkova
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Burk
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kappen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D051379:Mice; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010920:Placenta / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011247:Pregnancy; D011254:Pregnancy in Diabetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology