Therefore, mitochondrial signatures including mtDNA content and free radicals in circulation have now been investigated for their potential to show mitochondrial functionality, oxidative stress and link to pregnancy complications. Several studies have shown that mitochondria play an important role in the maintenance of pregnancy and neonatal development through regulation of energy, metabolism, hormone synthesis and oxygen sensing capacity. Pregnancy is a systemic process of development of fetus driven by cell growth, migration and differentiation process leading to tissues and organ development. Therefore, mitochondrial defects and oxidative stress have been linked to pregnancy related complications leading to developmental delay and other neonatal disorders.
Mitochondria play a central role in multiple functions such as cellular growth and apoptosis through bioenergetics and metabolism. Estimation of mtDNA distribution and ROS level in maternal blood could show mitochondrial functionality during normal pregnancy, and could be exploited to identify their prognostic/ diagnostic potential in pregnancy complications. This study suggested that normal pregnancy is associated with an opposing trend of reduced cellular mtDNA with increased circulatory mtDNA and H 2O 2 levels, which may contribute to maternal adaptation, required during different stages of pregnancy. Correlation analysis showed that, while cellular mtDNA content was negatively correlated to plasma mtDNA and to plasma H 2O 2 levels plasma mtDNA was positively correlated with plasma H 2O 2 content. A significantly higher level of plasma H 2O 2 was also observed during 3rd trimester compared to NP and to 1st trimester. However, from comparisons within trimesters only cellular mtDNA content in 3rd trimester was significantly reduced compared to 1st trimester, and plasma mtDNA did not differ significantly among different trimesters. While, we observed a significant decline in cellular mtDNA plasma mtDNA was significant increased across all trimesters compared to NP. The results were compared between pregnant and NP groups and within trimesters for significant differences, and were also analyzed for their correlation between groups using statistical methods.
In this pilot cross sectional study, blood samples of normal pregnant women from each trimester (total = 60) and age-matched non-pregnant (NP) women as control group ( n = 20) were analyzed for a) the relative distribution of mtDNA content in cellular and cell free (plasma) fractions using relative quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and b) the levels of circulating reactive oxygen species (ROS) by measurement of plasma H 2O 2. The aim of this study: to assess the distribution of mtDNA in peripheral blood and their association with circulatory ROS levels across different trimesters of healthy pregnancy. However, changes in maternal mtDNA content, their distribution and associated signaling during normal pregnancies are not clear which could suggest their physiological role in maternal adaptation to pregnancy related changes and a reference threshold. Alterations in mitochondrial signatures such as mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content in maternal blood have been linked to pregnancy-related complications.
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