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Updated: Oct 25, 2025
Author Spotlight: Modeling an Aspect of Preeclampsia in Female Mice Using Hypoxic Human Placenta-Derived Small Extracellular Vesicles
Published on: January 26, 2024
Expression of the alternative splicing regulator Rbfox2 during placental development is differentially regulated in
Nancy Freitag1,2,3, Yiran Xie1,4, Lisa-Marie Adam1
1Department of Obstetrics and Fetal Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Problem:
Proper placental development is pivotal to ensure healthy pregnancy outcomes. Among the multiple cellular mechanisms involved in the orchestration of this process, little is known on the role of alternative splicing events in the modulation of trophoblast cell biology. Here, we evaluated the expression of the alternative splicing regulator Rbfox2 in the pre- and post-placentation period in mouse pregnancies in both healthy and pathological settings.
Method Of Study:
Immunofluorescence analysis of Rbfox2 expression in mouse implantation sites collected during the pre-placentation period (E5-E7) and post-placentation (E13).
Results:
We identified a progressive increase of Rbfox2 levels throughout the peri-implantation period with a shift from a cytoplasmatic expression on E5-E6 to a predominantly nuclear expression on E7, together with a prominent expression of this factor in both subcellular compartments of the primitive placenta. Our results further showed that in contrast to healthy gestations, Rbfox2 expression decreased in preeclamptic models during the post-placentation period. Finally, we further demonstrated enhanced expression of Rbfox2 proteins in allogeneic pregnancy compared to syngeneic models.
Conclusions:
Our findings uncover a novel role for Rbfox2-controlled splicing events in the modulation of trophoblast function, with potential implications for the pathogenesis of preeclampsia and other pregnancy complications originated from defective placentation.
