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Author Spotlight: Modeling an Aspect of Preeclampsia in Female Mice Using Hypoxic Human Placenta-Derived Small Extracellular Vesicles
Published on: January 26, 2024
Preeclampsia as a possible risk factor for memory impairment, anxiety- and depressive-like behavior in offspring
Blanca Rubí Vélez-Godínez1, Pedro López-Sánchez1, Nayeli Páez-Martínez2,3
1Sección de Estudios de Posgrado e Investigación, Escuela Superior de Medicina, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Plan de San Luis y Díaz Mirón, Santo Tomás, Ciudad de México, C.P. 11340, México.
Insights
Preeclampsia in mothers may lead to anxiety, depression, and memory issues in adolescent offspring. These effects differ between male and female offspring, indicating sex-specific vulnerabilities.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Biology
- Reproductive Medicine
Background:
- Preeclampsia impacts adult offspring health, but its effects on early-life neuropsychiatric disorders are less understood.
- Understanding these long-term consequences is crucial for early intervention strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between maternal preeclampsia and the development of anxiety-like, depressive-like, and memory impairments in early adolescent offspring.
- To examine sex-specific differences in these neurobehavioral outcomes.
Main Methods:
- A mouse model was used, inducing preeclampsia in pregnant females with L-NAME.
- Offspring were assessed for anxiety-like behavior (elevated plus maze), depressive-like behavior (tail suspension test), and recognition memory (novel object recognition test).
- Motor activity was evaluated using the open field test to ensure result validity.
Main Results:
- Preeclampsia exposure resulted in sex-dependent behavioral alterations in offspring.
- Male offspring exhibited increased anxiety-like and depressive-like behaviors compared to controls.
- Female offspring showed significant impairments in recognition memory.
Conclusions:
- Maternal preeclampsia can predispose male offspring to anxiety and depression during early adolescence.
- Female offspring exposed to preeclampsia may experience memory deficits in early adolescence.
- These findings highlight the critical need for monitoring neurodevelopmental outcomes in offspring of preeclamptic pregnancies.
Rationale:
Preeclampsia is a condition that can affect the health in offspring at adult life. The effect on several systems has been described, but less is known about its effect on neuropsychiatric disorders at early ages.
Objective:
Evaluate the possible relationship of preeclampsia with development of anxiety- and depressive-like behavior, as well as memory impairments in male and female early adolescent offspring from preeclamptic mice.
Methods:
Thirty pregnant females were divided into control group receiving vehicle, and preeclampsia group receiving L-NAME in drinking water at a dose of 60 mg/Kg from day 10 of pregnancy until delivery. Offspring was weaned and sexed at 4 weeks after birth. Each group was evaluated using the elevated plus maze test (anxiety- like response), tail suspension test (depressive-like behavior) and the recognition of novel objects test (recognition memory), in addition to the open field test was performance to corroborate their motor activity and validate our results.
Results:
We found that preeclampsia produces behavioral alterations in offspring, and this effect is dependent on sex. The male offspring from preeclampsia showed an enhancement in the time that mice spend in the close arms in the elevated plus maze test, and longer immobility time in the tail suspension test, compared to the offspring from healthy pregnancies. On the other hand, female offspring from preeclampsia showed a lower percentage of recognition in the memory test compared to offspring from normal pregnancy.
Conclusions:
These results suggest that preeclampsia predisposes early adolescent young male offspring to develop anxiety- and depressive-like behavior as well as memory impairment in early adolescent young female offspring.
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