engleski

Placental expression of dishevelled protein family in intrauterine growth restriction

Brief Introduction: Wnt signaling pathway plays an important role in the development of the placenta and differentiation of trophoblast. Dishevelled proteins (DVL) are central mediators in this pathway which enable its fine regulation. Unsuccessful trophoblast invasion has been observed in placentas of fetuses with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). Since Dishevelled proteins act as positive regulators of the Wnt signaling pathway, the aim of this study was to examine the expression of DVL1, DVL2 and DVL3 proteins in term placentas with IUGR. Materials & Methods: Twenty-four term placentas were analyzed of which 15 were from pregnancies with IUGR and 9, serving as controls, were from normal pregnancies. Primary antibodies used in immunohistochemical analyses were all mouse monoclonal anti-human (Santa Cruz Biotechnology): anti-DVL1 (cat. #sc- 8025, 1:100 dilution), anti-DVL2 (cat. #sc-13974, 1 ; 200 dilution) and anti-DVL-3 (cat. #271295, 1:200 dilution). Protein expression was analyzed by measuring stereologically the volume density variable (Vv, mm0) using the Weibel multipurpose test system. Summary of the Results: The following clinical variables were observed: age, blood pressure, body weight and height of pregnant women ; body weight gain and body mass index before gestation and at time of delivery ; fetal, body weight and length ; placental mass and fetal/placental weight ratio. As expected, statistically smaller fetal weight and length, as well as placental mass, were found in children born following IUGR pregnancies (Student t-test, p<0.05). The average age of pregnant women with IUGR was 32, and healthy ones 28 years. Expression of all three Dishevelled proteins was detected in cytoplasm of both trophoblast cells and stromal cells of the placental villi. Statistically significant lower expressions of DVL1, DVL2 and DVL3 were detected in term placentas with IUGR compared to healthy term placentas (Mann Whitney ; p<0, 05). Conclusion: The results show the importance of Dishevelled proteins in the placenta formation and IUGR development but also support the hypothesis that shallow invasion is one of the factors that can contribute to the pathogenesis of IUGR.

intrauterine growth restriction ; Wnt signaling pathway ; DVL1 ; DVL2 ; DVL3

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