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Basic Science

Poster Session 2

(499) Effect of exogenous oxytocin on placental oxidative stress in mice before onset of labor

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

3:30 PM – 5:00 PM

Location: Prince George's Exhibit Hall CDE, Lower Atrium Level

Primary & Presenting Author(s)

Insaf Kouba, MD (she/her/hers)

Fellow, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine
Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra of Northwell
Bay Shore, NY, United States

Coauthor(s)

MB

Matthew J. Blitz, MD

Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra of Northwell
Bay Shore, NY, United States
XX

Xiangying Xue, MD

Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra of Northwell, The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research
Hempstead, NY, United States
PC

Prodyot Chatterjee, PhD

Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra of Northwell
Manhassat, NY, United States
CM

Christine Metz, PhD

Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra of Northwell, The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research
Hempstead, NY, United States

Objective: Oxidative stress (OS) in the placenta encompasses both negative and positive regulatory effects. The aim of this study was to determine how placental oxidative stress before the onset of labor is affected by exogenous oxytocin (OXT).

Study Design: Lean and obese C57BL/6 mice were obtained from Charles River Laboratories. On gestational age (GA) 18 day, both groups were administered either saline (100 µL) or OXT, 1 U/mouse every 30 min for 2 hours (cumulative dose 5U/mouse). Pups and placentas were delivered by cesarean section and pups and dams were euthanized. Placentas were collected, immediately flash frozen in liquid nitrogen, and stored at -80°C. High quality RNA was extracted from placentas. RNA quantity and quality were analyzed using the NanoDrop spectrophotometer. Gene expression was analyzed with the RT² Profiler PCR Array for mouse oxidative stress and antioxidant defense (Qiagen) using the Roche LightCycler 480. The p values were calculated based on Student's t-test of the replicate 2 ^{(- Delta CT)}values for each gene in the control group and treatment groups. P-values< 0.05 were considered statistically significant.

Results: Placentas of lean and obese mice at gestational age were harvested on (GA) 21 days were selected for this study. There were 84 genes analyzed. In the saline group, there was an 11-fold increase of the Atr gene expression as compared vs. 6-fold increase in the OXT group. Atr is activated by DNA damage. There was a 2-fold increase in Rag2 gene expression in the saline group vs. < 1.0-fold increase in the OXT group. The Rag2 gene has been implicated in increased OS. In the OXT group, there was an increase in Nqo1, encoding NAD(P)H dehydrogenase, which functions as an oxidoreductase, leading to a decrease in OS.

Conclusion: Exogenous OXT upregulated antioxidant genes in the placenta of obese mice vs. lean mice. Further studies involving human placental cells are needed to confirm this effect.