Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Rebecka Amodei, Sonnet S. Jonker, Mary Smallman, William Whitler, Charles T. Estill, Charles E. Roselli
Summary: We investigated the effects of treating fetal lambs with the GnRH antagonist degarelix on sexual differentiation and reproductive function in adult male sheep. The results showed that while the treatment did not affect genital differentiation or somatic growth, it did have some impact on behavioral traits. However, the sexual differentiation of reproductive behavior and gonadotropin feedback remained unaffected and appeared to be fully masculinized and defeminized.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Rajneesh Srivastava, Kanhaiya Singh, Ahmed S. Abouhashem, Manishekhar Kumar, Sedat Kacar, Sumit S. Verma, Sujit K. Mohanty, Mithun Sinha, Subhadip Ghatak, Yi Xuan, Chandan K. Sen
Summary: Fetal skin and gingival tissue both have minimal scarring outcomes in wound repair. The diversity of human fetal skin fibroblasts is unique and partly overlaps with gingival fibroblasts, compared to adult skin fibroblasts.
Article
Cell & Tissue Engineering
Kyungtae Lim, Alex P. A. Donovan, Walfred Tang, Dawei Sun, Peng He, J. Patrick Pett, Sarah A. Teichmann, John C. Marioni, Kerstin B. Meyer, Andrea H. Brand, Emma L. Rawlins
Summary: Variation in lung alveolar development is linked to disease susceptibility. Researchers have identified an alveolar-fated epithelial progenitor in human fetal lungs and have grown them as self-organizing organoids to study cell lineage commitment. Using this system, they have discovered the role of Wnt signaling and the Wnt-NKX2.1 axis in alveolar differentiation, as well as the effects of genetic variation on this process.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Hua Tian, Rui Liu, Suqiu Zhang, Shuhui Wei, Wei Wang, Shaoguo Ru
Summary: Exposure to 17/3-trenbolone skewed the sex ratio towards males in fish, affecting the number of primordial germ cells and expression of genes related to sexual differentiation. The study revealed a key molecular event involving binding to the zebrafish androgen receptor, ultimately leading to a skewed sex ratio towards males.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Cell & Tissue Engineering
Ivana Gessara, Falk Dittrich, Moritz Hertel, Staffan Hildebrand, Alexander Pfeifer, Carolina Frankl-Vilches, Mike McGrew, Manfred Gahr
Summary: The genetic manipulation of organisms has provided valuable insights into functional genomics, and despite challenges in birds due to accessibility issues with one-cell embryos, successful generation of transgenic songbirds using zebra finch primordial germ cells has been achieved through optimized culture conditions and lentiviral vector transduction.
Review
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Lakshmi Pulakat
Summary: Healthy, premenopausal women have female-specific cardiovascular protection, which is lost in young, obese and diabetic females due to pathologies such as obesity and T2DM. The molecular mechanisms behind this loss are not well understood. This review examines sex differences in adult cardiac gene expression patterns and proposes that a misalignment of gene expression in a female-specific active fetal gene program may contribute to the loss of female-specific cardiovascular protection in young, obese and diabetic females.
FRONTIERS IN ENDOCRINOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Maria Fernanda da Silva Lopes, Juliana de Souza Felix, Natalia Francisco Scaramele, Mariana Cordeiro Almeida, Amanda de Oliveira Furlan, Jessica Antonini Troiano, Flavia Regina Florencio de Athayde, Flavia Lombardi Lopes
Summary: The obesity epidemic is a global public health crisis, with caloric intake, sedentary lifestyles, and genetic factors contributing to its increase. Recent research has linked early exposure to Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) to obesity. This study explored the differential expression of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in gonadal white adipose tissue samples from mice ancestrally exposed to the obesogen tributyltin (TBT), and found that the differentially expressed lncRNAs may be involved in the regulation of adipogenesis and pathways related to lipid and glucose metabolism and insulin signaling.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Haiyan Yu, Donge Tang, Hongwei Wu, Chunhong Li, Yongping Lu, Fang He, Xiaogang Zhang, Yane Yang, Wei Shi, Wenlong Hu, Zhipeng Zeng, Weier Dai, Minglin Ou, Yong Dai
Summary: This study used integrated single-cell RNA sequencing and single-cell transposase-accessible chromatin sequencing analyses to investigate cellular heterogeneity and transcriptional regulatory networks during human spine development. The findings revealed that fibroblasts with stem cell characteristics can differentiate into chondrocytes and neurons may originate from neuroendocrine cells. The interaction between macrophages and neurons involving NRP2_SEMA3C and CD74_APP is crucial for spinal cord development.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Martin Rodriguez, Brady Trevisan, Ritu M. Ramamurthy, Sunil K. George, Jonathan Diaz, Jordan Alexander, Diane Meares, Denise J. Schwahn, David R. Quilici, Jorge Figueroa, Michael Gautreaux, Andrew Farland, Anthony Atala, Christopher B. Doering, H. Trent Spencer, Christopher D. Porada, Graca Almeida-Porada
Summary: Hemophilia A is a common X-linked bleeding disorder with severe cases having very low FVIII levels leading to spontaneous and life-threatening bleeds. Researchers showed that prenatal transplantation of bioengineered human placental cells in sheep fetuses significantly increased FVIII levels for more than 3 years without triggering immune responses. This study demonstrates the feasibility and safety of treating hemophilia A before birth.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Cell Biology
Connor Finkbeiner, Isabel Ortuno-Lizaran, Akshayalakshmi Sridhar, Marcus Hooper, Sidnee Petter, Thomas A. Reh
Summary: This study combines single-cell transcriptomic analysis with chromatin sequencing to investigate human fetal retinal development and identify key transcription factors and their cascades. By comparing retinal organoids, differences in signaling pathways and gene regulation are discovered. These findings are crucial for improving retinal organoid technology and advancing regenerative medicine approaches for retinal diseases.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Katherine M. Halloran, Emily C. Hoskins, Claire Stenhouse, Robyn M. Moses, Kathrin A. Dunlap, M. Carey Satterfield, Heewon Seo, Gregory A. Johnson, Guoyao Wu, Fuller W. Bazer
Summary: The study demonstrated that administration of exogenous progesterone in early pregnancy influenced the expression of selected genes for nutrient transporters and a protein involved in polyamine synthesis on day 125 of pregnancy, suggesting a 'programming' effect of progesterone on gene expression that affected the composition of nutrients in fetal-placental fluids.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SCIENCE AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Duo Peng, Evdoxia G. Kakani, Enzo Mameli, Charles Vidoudez, Sara N. Mitchell, Gennifer E. Merrihew, Michael J. MacCoss, Kelsey Adams, Tasneem A. Rinvee, W. Robert Shaw, Flaminia Catteruccia
Summary: In the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae, the sex steroids 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) and 3-dehydro-20E (3D20E) regulate different reproductive functions. 3D20E maintains paternity by turning off female sexual receptivity and induces expression of a reproductive gene related to egg development. Female-derived 20E licenses oviposition in mated individuals once a specific kinase is repressed.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Yi Bo Liu, Yao Yi, Amal Abdelmawla, Yun Lin Zheng, Zhi Jiang Zeng, Xu Jiang He
Summary: This study found that the developmental environment of honeybee females can delay male development and has significant effects on the morphological and gene expression differences between queen, worker, and drone bees in different cell environments. Various genes related to sex differentiation, growth, sensory perception, and signaling pathways were differentially expressed among the different groups.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Maalavika Pillai, Zihao Chen, Mohit Kumar Jolly, Chunhe Li
Summary: This study constructs cell-state transition landscapes to quantify the stochastic dynamics driving phenotypic switching in melanoma and reveals the existence of multiple alternative paths to resistance-de-differentiation and transition to a hyper-pigmented phenotype. By visualizing the changes in the landscape, combinatorial strategies that can lead to the most optimal outcome are identified.
Article
Immunology
Yongbo Liu, Jing Zhou, Xiaoyu Li, Xiaoting Zhang, Jintong Shi, Xuefei Wang, Hao Li, Shan Miao, Huifang Chen, Xiaoxiao He, Liting Done, Gap Ryol Lee, Junke Zheng, Ru-Juan Liu, Bing Su, Youqiong Ye, Richard A. Flavell, Chengqi Yi, Yuzhang Wu, Hua-Bing Li
Summary: This study reveals the crucial roles of tRNA methylation and modification in promoting translation efficiency and rapid proliferation of T cells, shedding light on the pathogenesis and homeostasis of T cell-mediated diseases.
Article
Obstetrics & Gynecology
Hillary F. Huber, Anderson H. Kuo, Cun Li, Susan L. Jenkins, Kenneth G. Gerow, Geoffrey D. Clarke, Peter W. Nathanielsz
REPRODUCTIVE SCIENCES
(2019)
Article
Veterinary Sciences
Natalia Schlabritz-Loutsevitch, Maira Carrillo, Cun Li, Peter Nathanielsz, Christopher Maguire, James Maher, Edward Dick, Gene Hubbard, Jerzy Stanek
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL PRIMATOLOGY
(2019)
Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Eugenia Mata-Greenwood, Hillary F. Huber, Cun Li, Peter W. Nathanielsz
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY-ENDOCRINOLOGY AND METABOLISM
(2019)
Editorial Material
Neurosciences
Peter W. Nathanielsz
JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY-LONDON
(2019)
Review
Behavioral Sciences
Katja Franke, Bea R. H. Van den Bergh, Susanne R. de Rooij, Nasim Kroegel, Peter W. Nathanielsz, Florian Rakers, Tessa J. Roseboom, Otto W. Witte, Matthias Schwab
NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS
(2020)
Article
Geriatrics & Gerontology
Elena Zambrano, Luis A. Reyes-Castro, Guadalupe L. Rodriguez-Gonzalez, Roberto Chavira, Peter W. Nathanielsz
JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES A-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICAL SCIENCES
(2020)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Teresa L. Serafim, Teresa Cunha-Oliveira, Claudia M. Deus, Vilma A. Sardao, Ines M. Cardoso, Shanshan Yang, John F. Odhiambo, Adel B. Ghnenis, Ashley M. Smith, Junfei Li, Peter W. Nathanielsz, Stephen P. Ford, Paulo J. Oliveira
Summary: Maternal obesity impacts foetal liver mitochondrial oxidative capacity and total mitochondrial phospholipid content, as well as the regulation of foetal liver redox pathways, revealing metabolic adaptations to a higher foetal lipid environment. In utero programming of foetal hepatic metabolism may persist and compromise mitochondrial bioenergetics in later life, increasing susceptibility to metabolic diseases.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL INVESTIGATION
(2021)
Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Diana C. Castro-Rodriguez, Carlos A. Ibanez, Jorge Uribe, Marta Menjivar, Maria de los Angeles Granados-Silvestre, Kenneth G. Gerow, Peter W. Nathanielsz, Elena Zambrano
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OBESITY
(2020)
Article
Toxicology
Luis F. Grilo, Joao D. Martins, Chiara H. Cavallaro, Peter W. Nathanielsz, Paulo J. Oliveira, Susana P. Pereira
TOXICOLOGY IN VITRO
(2020)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
C. Akos Szabo, Melissa De La Garza, Robert Shade, Alexander M. Papanastassiou, Peter Nathanielsz
Summary: This study demonstrated the efficacy of cortical responsive neurostimulation (CRN) in a male baboon with genetic generalized epilepsy (GGE), showing a 38% median reduction in generalized tonic-clonic seizures (GTCS) under treatment. The ictal patterns and circadian distribution of GTCS were also altered by the RNS therapy, shifting gradually from night to daytime.
EPILEPSY & BEHAVIOR
(2021)
Editorial Material
Medicine, General & Internal
Peter W. Nathanielsz
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL INVESTIGATION
(2021)
Review
Medicine, General & Internal
Elena Zambrano, Peter W. Nathanielsz, Guadalupe L. Rodriguez-Gonzalez
Summary: Developmental programming can predispose offspring to metabolic, behavioral, and reproductive dysfunction in adult life, with evidence showing a connection between aging phenotype and longevity. Maternal nutrition during development can have effects on the male reproductive system's aging, impacting factors like hormone production, oxidative stress, and sperm quality. Understanding these developmental programming aging interactions can improve male health, longevity, and future generations' health.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL INVESTIGATION
(2021)
Review
Medicine, General & Internal
Elena Zambrano, Consuelo Lomas-Soria, Peter W. Nathanielsz
Summary: Compelling evidence suggests that developmental programming influences ageing, affecting organ phenotype and predisposing to diseases that shorten lifespan. Studies demonstrate effects of maternal under- and overnutrition on offspring's pancreatic islets, adipose tissue, and oxidative stress, impacting ageing.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL INVESTIGATION
(2021)
Article
Geriatrics & Gerontology
Daniel A. Adekunbi, Cun Li, Peter W. Nathanielsz, Adam B. Salmon
Summary: The study found that the resilience of cells in responding to homeostatic challenges varies based on the chronological age and sex of the donor, using baboon primary fibroblasts as a model.
Article
Biology
Consuelo Lomas-Soria, Guadalupe L. Rodriguez-Gonzalez, Carlos A. Ibanez, Luis A. Reyes-Castro, Peter W. Nathanielsz, Elena Zambrano
Summary: The present study explored the impact of maternal obesity on hepatic mitochondrial function in male and female offspring at different ages. The findings suggest that maternal obesity accelerates the age-related down-regulation of electron transport chain (ETC) gene expression, leading to oxidative stress, premature aging, and metabolic dysfunction in male offspring. These effects were not observed in female offspring until later in life. The study highlights the importance of mitochondria in the development of fatty liver and provides insights into the mechanisms underlying sexual dimorphism in aging.