The expression of placental soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 in mouse placenta varies significantly across different litters from normal pregnant mice.
OBJECTIVE
Gene expression studies often pool tissues from multiple placentas when using animal models of preeclampsia without accounting for the potential confounders of litter origin or pup sex. We aimed to determine whether placental gene expression differs based on sex or litter.


METHODS
We examined the differential expression of soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (Flt-1) using 35 pups from six normal pregnant mice.


RESULTS
Expression of sFlt-1 (p = 0.003) was significantly different between litters but not between sexes (p = 0.17).


CONCLUSIONS
These findings highlight the importance of adequate sampling from multiple litters in expression studies when using animal models in clinical research.
School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney , Campbelltown, NSW , Australia .
L
L
Surmon
G
G
Bobek
C L
CL
Chiu
S
S
Young
A
A
Makris
J M
JM
Lind
A
A
Hennessy
D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D051379:Mice; D010920:Placenta / Q000378:metabolism*; D011247:Pregnancy; D040281:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
C501163:Flt1 protein, mouse; D040281:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1
Animal models; placenta; preeclampsia; sFLT-1; sampling