Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Yuji Sakahashi, Kazuma Higashisaka, Ryo Isaka, Rina Izutani, Jiwon Seo, Atsushi Furuta, Akemi Yamaki-Ushijima, Hirofumi Tsujino, Yuya Haga, Akitoshi Nakashima, Yasuo Tsutsumi
Summary: The increasing use of engineered nanoparticles has raised concerns about potential adverse effects on pregnancy. While the effects of nanoparticles on the mother and fetus have been studied, little is known about their impact on placental formation and function, which are crucial for successful pregnancy. This study found that silver nanoparticles at 10 nm diameter significantly decreased syncytialization of BeWo cells, while gold nanoparticles did not. Furthermore, silver nanoparticles suppressed the expression of markers associated with syncytialization and placental angiogenesis. These findings suggest that silver nanoparticles could impair syncytiotrophoblast formation and lead to placental dysfunction and poor pregnancy outcomes.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Hitomi Matsukawa, Midori Ikezaki, Kaho Nishioka, Naoyuki Iwahashi, Masakazu Fujimoto, Kazuchika Nishitsuji, Yoshito Ihara, Kazuhiko Ino
Summary: Calnexin (CNX) plays a critical role in syncytialization-related signaling in placentation and is linked to placenta development.
Article
Obstetrics & Gynecology
Visalakshi Sethuraman, Yong Pu, Jeremy Gingrich, Jiongjie Jing, Robert Long, Isoken Nicholas Olomu, Almudena Veiga-Lopez
Summary: This study found that the expression of ABCA1 and ABCG1 was not altered in preeclamptic placentas, however, their dynamic expression pattern was disrupted during cytotrophoblast syncytialization. This suggests that cholesterol transport may contribute to the pathophysiologic role of the placenta in preeclampsia.
PREGNANCY HYPERTENSION-AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF WOMENS CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH
(2022)
Article
Cell Biology
Kyle H. Moore, Haley A. Murphy, Heather Chapman, Eric M. George
Summary: The study aimed to characterize the ECM of an in vitro model of the placental barrier using syncytialized BeWo choriocarcinoma cells. Syncytialization resulted in marked changes in syndecans, integral proteoglycans of the ECM, with syndecan-1 expression increasing greatly and predominating over other variants. The barrier function of the ECM increased significantly during and after syncytialization, while the adherence of THP-1 monocytes to syncytialized BeWos was greatly reduced. Additionally, ECM degradation with MMP-9, but not heparanase, decreased barrier function, indicating that the syncytialization of BeWos provides a physiologically accurate placental ECM with barrier function matching that seen in vivo.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY-CELL PHYSIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Cell Biology
Naoyuki Iwahashi, Midori Ikezaki, Kazuchika Nishitsuji, Madoka Yamamoto, Ibu Matsuzaki, Naoki Kato, Naoyuki Takaoka, Mana Taniguchi, Shin-ichi Murata, Kazuhiko Ino, Yoshito Ihara
Summary: This study investigated how ER stress exposes the placenta to the risk of preeclampsia, revealing that CRT is upregulated in serum samples from preeclamptic women but not in placental specimens, and ER stress causes extracellular release of CRT, which suppresses cytotrophoblast syncytialization.
Article
Developmental Biology
Zachary J. W. Easton, Flavien Delhaes, Katherine Mathers, Lin Zhao, Christina M. G. Vanderboor, Timothy R. H. Regnault
Summary: Placental villous trophoblast cells exposed to fatty acids showed altered mitochondrial respiratory function, with syncytiotrophoblast cells exhibiting decreased activity and cytotrophoblast cells showing increased respiratory activity, potentially indicating early signs of saturated fat-mediated mitochondrial dysfunction in placental cells.
Article
Reproductive Biology
Anastasia Weyrich, Markus Frericks, Michael Eichenlaub, Steffen Schneider, Thomas Hofmann, Steven Van Cruchten, Bennard van Ravenzwaay
Summary: This study compared the expression levels of xenobiotic transporters in liver, kidney, and placenta of human, Wistar rat, and New Zealand White rabbit during pre- and postnatal development, revealing significant differences in transporter expression in development and between species.
REPRODUCTIVE TOXICOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Nanami Ohyama, Ayako Furugen, Riko Sawada, Ryoichi Aoyagi, Ayako Nishimura, Takeshi Umazume, Katsuya Narumi, Masaki Kobayashi
Summary: This study aimed to investigate the effects of clinically relevant concentrations of antiepileptic drugs on syncytialization of trophoblasts. The results showed that exposure to valproic acid (VPA) influenced the expression of syncytialization-associated genes, inhibited cell fusion, and was correlated with neonatal and placental parameters. These findings have important implications for understanding the toxicity mechanisms of antiepileptic drugs and predicting risks to placental and fetal development.
TOXICOLOGY AND APPLIED PHARMACOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Peripheral Vascular Disease
Xi Yuan, Xiyao Liu, Fangyu Zhu, Biao Huang, Li Lin, Jiayu Huang, Li Wen, Mark D. Kilby, Philip N. Baker, Yong Fu, Weiwei Wu, Hongbo Qi, Jing Tang, Chao Tong
Summary: This study investigates the relationship among HtrA4, endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS), and trophoblast syncytialization in the development of early-onset preeclampsia (EO-PE). The findings suggest that ERS enables syncytialization of placental development by upregulating HtrA4, but excessive HtrA4 expression and preexisting ERS impair syncytialization and cause EO-PE.
JOURNAL OF HYPERTENSION
(2023)
Article
Peripheral Vascular Disease
Brooke Armistead, Leena Kadam, Emily Siegwald, Fergus P. McCarthy, John C. Kingdom, Hamid-Reza Kohan-Ghadr, Sascha Drewlo
Summary: Preeclampsia is a severe hypertensive disorder of pregnancy caused by placental villi pathology leading to widespread maternal endothelial dysfunction. Modulating trophoblast differentiation pathway through PPAR gamma-GCM1 axis may reduce excessive sFLT1 production and improve clinical outcomes. Pharmacological manipulation of PPAR gamma activity shows potential to rescue the antiangiogenic state of preeclampsia.
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Mai Koishikawa, Ayako Furugen, Nanami Ohyama, Katsuya Narumi, Shuhei Ishikawa, Masaki Kobayashi
Summary: This study found differences in the uptake of antiepileptic drugs during placental trophoblast differentiation. The differentiated cells showed lower uptake of gabapentin and lamotrigine, with a decreased maximum uptake rate for gabapentin. Furthermore, the transport of gabapentin was trans-stimulated by histidine and methionine.
Article
Developmental Biology
Katsuhiko Takahashi, Yui Yoneyama, Naoya Koizumi, Naoki Utoguchi, Naohiro Kanayama, Nobuaki Higashi
Summary: The expression of p57(KIP2) inhibits proliferation and invasion activity of cytotrophoblasts, while enhancing the expression of Syncytin-2, promoting syncytialization.
Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Veronika Vachalova, Rona Karahoda, Martina Ottaviani, Kasin Yadunandam Anandam, Cilia Abad, Christiane Albrecht, Frantisek Staud
Summary: This study explores the regulation of monoamine transport during trophoblast differentiation and the importance of appropriate in vitro models for studying monoamine regulation in the placenta. Experimental results show changes in the gene and protein expression of monoamine transporters during trophoblast differentiation, indicating their role in placental function.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY AND ENDOCRINOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Developmental Biology
Cecile Demarez, Leonardo Vinicius Monteiro De Assis, Markus Krohn, Nahuel Ramella, Markus Schwaninger, Henrik Oster, Mariana Astiz
Summary: The trophoblast layer of the labyrinth zone in the mature mouse placenta harbors a functional clock by late gestation, regulating the expression and activity of the xenobiotic efflux pump ABCB1 in a circadian manner, potentially controlling the fetal exposure to drugs at certain times of the day. This finding may have implications in determining the timing of maternal treatments to achieve maximal/minimal drug availability to the fetus/mother.
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Kakeru Sato, Tatsuya Seki, Asuka Mizutani, Yuka Muranaka, Shiho Hirota, Kodai Nishi, Kana Yamazaki, Ryuichi Nishii, Takeo Nakanishi, Ikumi Tamai, Keiichi Kawai, Masato Kobayashi
Summary: Chemoradiotherapy is commonly used in cancer treatment, and stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is a high-dose radiotherapy used to treat various types of cancer. This study investigated the relationship between the accumulation of methotrexate and the expression levels of solute carrier (SLC) and ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters in cancer cells after high-dose X-ray irradiation. The results showed that gene expression levels of solute carrier transporters (OATP1B1/1B3/1B7) and ATP-binding cassette transporters (MRP1/2) were altered after irradiation, leading to a decrease in the accumulation of methotrexate in cancer cells.
FRONTIERS IN PHARMACOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Physiology
Luca Tamo, Youssef Hibaoui, Sampada Kallol, Marco P. Alves, Christiane Albrecht, Katrin E. Hostettler, Anis Feki, Jean-Sebastien Rougier, Hugues Abriel, Lars Knudsen, Amiq Gazdhar, Thomas Geiser
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY-LUNG CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR PHYSIOLOGY
(2018)
Article
Developmental Biology
Christiane Albrecht, Larry Chamley, D. Stephen Charnock-Jones, Sally Collins, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Thaddeus Golos, Solene Grayo, Natalie Hannan, Lynda Harris, Kiyotake Ichizuka, Nicholas P. Illsley, Mitsutoshi Iwashita, Sampada Kallol, Abdulla Al-Khan, Gendie Lash, Takeshi Nagamatsu, Akitoshi Nakashima, Kaoru Niimi, Masataka Nomoto, Christopher Redman, Shigeru Saito, Kenji Tanimura, Masatoshi Tomi, Hirokazu Usui, Manu Vatish, Bryce Wolfe, Eiko Yamamoto, Perrie O'Tierney-Ginn
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Hassan Melhem, Sampada Kallol, Xiao Huang, Michael Luthi, Corneille Edgar Ontsouka, Adrian Keogh, Deborah Stroka, Wolfgang Thormann, Henning Schneider, Christiane Albrecht
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2019)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Sampada Kallol, Christiane Albrecht
BIOCHEMICAL SOCIETY TRANSACTIONS
(2020)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Barbara Fuenzalida, Claudette Cantin, Sampada Kallol, Lorena Carvajal, Valentina Pasten, Susana Contreras-Duarte, Christiane Albrecht, Jaime Gutierrez, Andrea Leiva
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2020)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Rona Karahoda, Sampada Kallol, Michael Groessl, Edgar Ontsouka, Pascale Anderle, Christa Fluck, Frantisek Staud, Christiane Albrecht
Summary: This study investigates the gestational age-dependent changes in the gene expression of key steroidogenic enzymes in human placentas, as well as explores the role of trophoblast cells in steroid biosynthesis and metabolism. The research provides insights into the cellular origin of steroidogenesis in the human placenta and highlights the functional activity of steroidogenic enzymes in primary human trophoblasts.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jonas Zaugg, Fabian Ziegler, Jean-Marc Nuoffer, Ruedi Moser-Hassig, Christiane Albrecht
Summary: This study highlights the importance of amino acid gradients between maternal and fetal blood for efficient leucine transfer, with maternal factors such as obesity and weight gain affecting these gradients. Leucine uptake is influenced by extracellular substrate concentrations, and a counter-directed gradient can stimulate transplacental leucine transport.
JOURNAL OF NUTRITIONAL BIOCHEMISTRY
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Edgar Ontsouka, Alessandra Epstein, Sampada Kallol, Jonas Zaugg, Marc Baumann, Henning Schneider, Christiane Albrecht
Summary: The study found significant alterations in placental SLCO3A1 (OATP3A1) gene expression in patients with intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP), while the expression levels of the other 20 genes were comparable between healthy and ICP placentae. Additionally, certain genes in ICP placentae showed positive correlations with BA concentrations and maternal body mass index.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Cell Biology
Benjamin P. Luescher, Christiane Albrecht, Bruno Stieger, Daniel V. Surbek, Marc U. Baumann
Summary: This study reveals the efficient role of the placental uric acid transport system in maintaining uric acid homeostasis, with GLUT9 playing a crucial role in this process. Further investigation on the role of the placental uric acid transport system in preeclampsia is urgently needed.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Saira Shahnawaz, Usman Shah Nawaz, Jonas Zaugg, Ghulam Hussain, Nadia Malik, Muhammad Zahoor-ul-Hassan Dogar, Shoaib Ahmad Malik, Christiane Albrecht
Summary: The dysregulation of autophagy, increased oxidative toxicity, and aberrant expression of placental ABC transporters in EMC affect maternal-fetal health.
Article
Developmental Biology
Hiten D. Mistry, Rahel Klossner, Sampada Kallol, Michael P. Luthi, Ruedi Moser, Henning Schneider, Edgar C. Ontsouka, Lesia O. Kurlak, Markus G. Mohaupt, Christiane Albrecht
Summary: This study used an ex vivo placenta perfusion model to demonstrate that increasing aldosterone can promote the release of anti-inflammatory and pro-angiogenic factors, which may have a positive impact on pregnancy outcomes.
Article
Cell Biology
Barbara Fuenzalida, Sampada Kallol, Jonas Zaugg, Martin Mueller, Hiten D. Mistry, Jaime Gutierrez, Andrea Leiva, Christiane Albrecht
Summary: This study used a primary human trophoblast cell model to mimic the characteristics of preeclampsia (PE) under hypoxic conditions. The results showed that this cell model reflected important pathological processes occurring in PE, making it suitable for in vitro studies of PE.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Jean-Marc Jeckelmann, Jonas Zaugg, Veronika Morozova, Jennifer Mueller, Satish Kantipudi, Mariana Schroeder, Julien Graff, Christiane Albrecht, Karl-Heinz Altmann, Jurg Gertsch, Dimitrios Fotiadis
Summary: Amino acids are vital for living cells and their transporters play crucial roles in transferring amino acids and studying human diseases.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Edgar Ontsouka, Mariana Schroeder, Linda Ok, Cathy Vaillancourt, Deborah Stroka, Christiane Albrecht
Summary: By screening the mRNAs coding for enzymes involved in hepatic bile acid synthesis in human and mouse placentas, researchers found that certain genes were species-specifically expressed. CYP7A1, CYP46A1, and BAAT mRNAs were lacking in human placentas but detected in mouse placentas, while Cyp8b1 and Hsd17b1 mRNAs were found in human placentas but not in mouse placentas. CYP39A1/Cyp39a1 and CH25H/Ch25h mRNAs were detected in placentas of both species. The study suggests that placental synthesis of bile acids may play a role in fetoplacental growth and adaptation.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Jonas Zaugg, Jonai Pujol Gimenez, Romina Silvia Cabra, Wilhelm Hofstetter, Matthias A. Hediger, Christiane Albrecht
Summary: The TransCure project combines structural biology, chemistry and physiology to study iron transport. The project investigates proteins such as DMT1 and FPN1 and explores the physiology and mechanisms of iron transport in various parts of the body. The project also identifies potential modulators of DMT1 and provides insights into the pharmacology of human iron transport proteins.
