Project description:Transcriptomic analysis of lungs from newborn rats born to vitamin D adequate and vitamin D deficient mothers Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy is common and is related to several maternal and fetal morbidities. Past studies suggest that vitamin D plays a role in normal lung development and we have shown that vitamin D regulates lung alveolar and vascular growth and preserves lung structure in experimental bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) through improved pro-angiogeneic signaling. In addition, maternal vitamin D deficiency causes abnormal airway, alveolar, and vascular growth, as well as impaired lung function and airway hyper-reactivity in newborn rats. However, the mechanisms responsible for these physiologic effects are unknown. To gain insight into the role that maternal vitamin D status has on fetal lung development we used an unbiased transcriptomic approach to identify pathways altered in the lungs of offspring from vitamin D deficient dams.
Project description:Initiation of a vitamin A deficient diet in mid-gestation, maintained in the post-weaning diet is sufficient to cause liver and serum retinoid depletion. Wild type C57Bl/6J timed mated pregnant dams were administered either a defined vitamin A sufficient low fat (12 percent kcal from fat) diet or matched vitamin A deficient diet from embryonic day 10.5. Vitamin A sufficient offspring were weaned onto either a high fat diet (60 percent kcal from fat) or maintained on the low fat 12 percent kcal from fat diet for 11 weeks (14 weeks of age). Gestational vitamin A deficient offspring were maintained on the same vitamin A deficient diet until 14 weeks of age. The impact of the maternal diet on a post-weaning high fat diet was compared to a standard maternal breeder diet followed by the post-weaning high fat diet.
Project description:The origins of congenital heart diseases, the most common congenital diseases are still largely unknown. Environmental factors are now emerging as major causes of these diseases. Vitamin D deficiency has become a public health burden, notably for childbearing age, pregnant and breastfeeding women. Since maternal 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) determined fetal and neonatal 25(OH)D status, foetuses exposed to insufficient levels of vitamin D, may feature developmental defects.Herein, we investigated the effects of maternal vitamin D deficiency on cardiovascular defects in early and later life of offsprings as well as the molecular mechanisms underlying vitamin D effect.Eight weeks before and during pregnancy, C57BL/6JRj female mice received a sufficient or vitamin D deficient diet ((1.0 IU/g in control vs 0.0 IU/g in Vitamin D Deficient (VDD) group). E16.5 Embryos of maternal VDD diet featured hypertrophic heart revealed by a thicker left ventricular (LV) wall and septum. RNAseq analysis of LV revealed 1555 transcripts differentially expressed in the VDD group and among them cardiac transcription factors and constitutive cardiac genes (tbx5, gata4, myl2). Anti-Vitamin D receptor (VDR) Chip-seq from chromatin of E16.5 LV uncovered different targeting of tbx5 and tbx3 loci by VDR in the VDD vs control embryos. Anti-CTCF ChIP-loop experiments focusing on the Tbx3 and Tbx5 loci uncovered a change in the Topology Associated Domains associated with these loci. Herein, we investigated the effects of maternal vitamin D deficiency on cardiovascular defects in early and later life of offsprings as well as the molecular mechanisms underlying vitamin D effect.Eight weeks before and during pregnancy, C57BL/6JRj female mice received a sufficient or vitamin D deficient diet ((1.0 IU/g in control vs 0.0 IU/g in Vitamin D Deficient (VDD) group). E16.5 Embryos of maternal VDD diet featured hypertrophic heart revealed by a thicker left ventricular (LV) wall and septum. RNAseq analysis of LV revealed 1555 transcripts differentially expressed in the VDD group and among them cardiac transcription factors and constitutive cardiac genes (tbx5, gata4, myl2). Anti-Vitamin D receptor (VDR) Chip-seq from chromatin of E16.5 LV uncovered different targeting of tbx5 and tbx3 loci by VDR in the VDD vs control embryos. Anti-CTCF ChIP-loop experiments focusing on the Tbx3 and Tbx5 loci uncovered a change in the Topology Associated Domains associated with these loci.
Project description:Children born to diabetic and obese or overweight mothers have a higher risk of heart disease at birth and later in life. Our previous work using chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing revealed that late-gestation diabetes in combination with maternal high fat diet causes a distinct fuel-mediated epigenetic reprogramming of cardiac tissue during fetal cardiogenesis. We used gene expression profiling to investigate the overall transcriptional signature of newborn rat offspring exposed to the combination of maternal diabetes and maternal high fat diet.
Project description:In utero environment is crucial to ensure normal development of the fetus and to program metabolic health throughout the life. Beside macronutrients, the role of micronutrients, including vitamin D, begins to be explore. The aim of this study was to decipher the impact of maternal vitamin D deficiency (VDD), in normal and high-fat (HF) diet context, on adipose tissue metabolism and energy homeostasis in offspring, considering sex-specific responses. Body weight, energy expenditure, and spontaneous activity was differential impacted in juvenile male and female offspring born from VDD mice. In adulthood, a HF diet combined with maternal VDD disrupted glucose homeostasis and adiposity in male offspring but not in females. Such phenotypes were associated to different transcriptomic profiles in adipose tissue, which could be related to differential modulation of plasma 17b-estradiol concentrations. Thus, maternal VDD sex-dependently modulated metabolic fate of the offspring, especially when associated with HF diet in adulthood.
Project description:Maternal Vitamin C is required in vivo for proper DNA demethylation and development of fetal germ cells in a mouse model of Vitamin C deficiency. Withdrawal of Vitamin C from the maternal diet does not affect overall embryonic development but leads to defects in the fetal germline, which persist well after Vitamin C re-supply during late gestation. The transcriptome of germ cells from Vitamin C-deficient embryos is remarkably similar to that of embryos carrying a mutation in Tet1, which is responsible for DNA demethylation and activation of regulators of meiosis. In agreement with these results, Vitamin C deficiency leads to an aberrant DNA methylation profile that includes incomplete demethylation of key regulators of meiosis and transposable elements. These findings reveal that deficiency in Vitamin C during gestation recapitulates a mutation in Tet1 and disrupts germline reprogramming and development. Our work further indicate that the embryonic germline is sensitive to perturbations of the maternal diet, providing a potential intergenerational mechanism for adjusting fecundity to environmental quality.
Project description:The aim of the study was to investigate the role of vitamin D on adipocyte development. To this end, rat dams (Sprague-Dawley rats ) were fed diets with 0 or 1,000 IU vitamin D3 per kg diet 5 weeks prior to conception until the end of lactation. By using high-density DNA microarrays, we analyzed the gene-expression profile of mesenterial adipose tissue of both groups of newborn rats.
Project description:Maternal Vitamin C is required in vivo for proper DNA demethylation and development of fetal germ cells in a mouse model of Vitamin C deficiency. Withdrawal of Vitamin C from the maternal diet does not affect overall embryonic development but leads to defects in the fetal germline, which persist well after Vitamin C re-supply during late gestation. The transcriptome of germ cells from Vitamin C-deficient embryos is remarkably similar to that of embryos carrying a mutation in Tet1, which is responsible for DNA demethylation and activation of regulators of meiosis. In agreement with these results, Vitamin C deficiency leads to an aberrant DNA methylation profile that includes incomplete demethylation of key regulators of meiosis and transposable elements. These findings reveal that deficiency in Vitamin C during gestation recapitulates a mutation in Tet1 and disrupts germline reprogramming and development. Our work further indicate that the embryonic germline is sensitive to perturbations of the maternal diet, providing a potential intergenerational mechanism for adjusting fecundity to environmental quality.
Project description:Maternal Vitamin C is required in vivo for proper DNA demethylation and development of fetal germ cells in a mouse model of Vitamin C deficiency. Withdrawal of Vitamin C from the maternal diet does not affect overall embryonic development but leads to defects in the fetal germline, which persist well after Vitamin C re-supply during late gestation. The transcriptome of germ cells from Vitamin C-deficient embryos is remarkably similar to that of embryos carrying a mutation in Tet1, which is responsible for DNA demethylation and activation of regulators of meiosis. In agreement with these results, Vitamin C deficiency leads to an aberrant DNA methylation profile that includes incomplete demethylation of key regulators of meiosis and transposable elements. These findings reveal that deficiency in Vitamin C during gestation recapitulates a mutation in Tet1 and disrupts germline reprogramming and development. Our work further indicate that the embryonic germline is sensitive to perturbations of the maternal diet, providing a potential intergenerational mechanism for adjusting fecundity to environmental quality.
Project description:We conducted a genome-wide placental transcriptome study aiming at the identification of functional pathways representing the molecular link between maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and fetal growth. We used RNA microarray (Agilent 8 X 60 K), medical records, and questionnaire data from 183 mother-newborn pairs from the ENVIRONAGE birth cohort study (Flanders, Belgium). We applied a weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and identified genes modules and hub genes that were associated with maternal BMI as well as newborn birth weight. Modules of interest were further characterized by gene ontology (GO) and pathway enrichment analyses. We assessed the mediating effects of modules and hub genes in the association between maternal BMI and newborn weight.