Hypoxia in extravillous trophoblasts links maternal obesity and offspring neurobehavior
Summary: While maternal obesity (MO) is associated with neurobehavioral impairment (NBI) in offspring, the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. The placenta is thought to play a role in fetal programming. To elucidate the association between MO and offspring NBI, we performed single-nucleus RNA-seq...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2025-06-01
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| Series: | iScience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004225008971 |
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| Summary: | Summary: While maternal obesity (MO) is associated with neurobehavioral impairment (NBI) in offspring, the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. The placenta is thought to play a role in fetal programming. To elucidate the association between MO and offspring NBI, we performed single-nucleus RNA-seq on maternal- and fetal-facing sides of human term placentas from MO and lean groups. MO placentas showed the upregulation of hypoxia response genes in multiple cell types, and maternal-facing hypoxia gene expression correlated with offspring NBI in an independent birth cohort, Gen3G. Extravillous trophoblasts (EVTs) showed the highest expression of NBI-correlated genes, and EVT NBI-gene expression correlated with hypoxia signatures in two cohorts. Exposing cultured EVTs to hypoxia increased NBI gene expression, and 44% of the association between maternal BMI and NBI-gene expression in EVTs was mediated by hypoxia. Our findings suggest that hypoxia in EVTs is a key process in the neurodevelopmental programming of fetal exposure to MO. |
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| ISSN: | 2589-0042 |