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Environmental disturbance confounds prenatal glucocorticoid programming experiments in Wistar rats
D O'Regan1, C J Kenyon, J R Seckl
1Anaesthetics Department, The Royal Marsden Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK. d.oregan@imperial.ac.uk
Laboratory Animals
|January 15, 2010
Summary
Prenatal exposure to glucocorticoids and environmental noise stress can cause low birth weight and adult hypertension. Unidentified construction noise confounded experiments, revealing stress as a key factor in programming these health issues.
Area of Science:
- Endocrinology
- Developmental Biology
- Environmental Health
Background:
- Low birth weight is linked to adult hypertension, with fetal glucocorticoid overexposure as a suspected cause.
- Previous studies showed prenatal dexamethasone (DEX) in rats lowered birth weight and programmed adult hypertension.
- The molecular mechanisms linking low birth weight, glucocorticoids, and hypertension require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the molecular mechanisms of hypertension programmed by prenatal dexamethasone (DEX) exposure.
- To identify confounding factors in prenatal programming experiments.
- To understand the impact of perinatal stress on offspring health outcomes.
Main Methods:
- Rat model of prenatal dexamethasone (DEX) exposure.
- Assessment of birth weight, blood pressure, insulin resistance, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function.
- Post hoc analysis to identify environmental noise as a confounding variable.
Main Results:
- Environmental noise stress, independent of DEX, caused low birth weight, hypercorticosteronaemia, insulin resistance, hypertension, and HPA axis dysfunction.
- The effects of DEX were masked by the significant impact of perinatal noise stress.
- DEX-treated offspring showed no additional hypertension compared to vehicle-treated offspring under noise stress.
Conclusions:
- Perinatal environmental noise stress can independently program low birth weight and hypertension.
- Glucocorticoids and noise stress may have maximal effects, preventing further detrimental impacts of sustained glucocorticoid exposure.
- Researchers must be aware of environmental noise as a potential confounder in prenatal programming studies.
