Gestational Exposure (gestational + exposure)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Alcohol-Induced Disruption of Endocrine Signaling

ALCOHOLISM, Issue 8 2007
Martin J. J. Ronis
This article contains the proceedings of a symposium at the 2006 ISBRA Meeting in Sydney Australia, organized and cochaired by Martin J. Ronis and Thomas M. Badger. The presentations were (1) Effect of Long-Term Ethanol Consumption on Liver Injury and Repair, by Jack R. Wands; (2) Alcohol-Induced Insulin Resistance in Liver: Potential Roles in Regulation of ADH Expression, Ethanol Clearance, and Alcoholic Liver Disease, by Thomas M. Badger; (3) Chronic Gestational Exposure to Ethanol Causes Brain Insulin and Insulin-Like Growth Factor Resistance, by Suzanne M de la Monte; (4) Disruption of IGF-1 Signaling in Muscle: A Mechanism Underlying Alcoholic Myopathy, by Charles H. Lang; (5) The Role of Reduced Plasma Estradiol and Impaired Estrogen Signaling in Alcohol-Induced Bone Loss, by Martin J. Ronis; and (6) Short-Term Influence of Alcohol on Appetite-Regulating Hormones in Man, by Jan Calissendorff. [source]


Ethanol-Induced Oxidative Stress and Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Rat Placenta: Relevance to Pregnancy Loss

ALCOHOLISM, Issue 3 2010
Fusun Gundogan
Background:, Ethanol consumption during pregnancy increases the risk of early pregnancy loss and causes intrauterine growth restriction. We previously showed that chronic gestational exposure to ethanol impairs placentation, and that this effect is associated with inhibition of insulin and insulin growth factor signaling. Since ethanol also causes oxidative stress and DNA damage, we extended our investigations to assess the role of these pathological processes on placentation and placental gene expression. Methods:, Pregnant Long Evans rats were pair-fed liquid diets containing 0% or 24% ethanol by caloric content. Placentas harvested on gestation day 16 were used to examine DNA damage, lipid peroxidation, apoptosis, mitochondrial gene/protein and hormonal gene expression in relation to ethanol exposure. Results:, Gestational exposure to ethanol increased fetal resorption, and trophoblast apoptosis/necrosis, oxidative stress, DNA damage, and lipid peroxidation. These adverse effects of ethanol were associated with increased expression of pro-apoptotic (Bax and Bak) and reduced levels of the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein. In addition, increased trophoblast apoptosis proneness was associated with p53-independent activation of p21, reduced mitochondrial gene and protein expression, and dysregulated expression of prolactin (PRL) family hormones that are required for implantation and pregnancy-related adaptations. Conclusions:, Chronic gestational exposure to ethanol increases fetal demise due to impaired survival and mitochondrial function, increased oxidative stress, DNA damage and lipid peroxidation, and dysregulated expression of prolactin family hormones in placental trophoblasts. [source]


A register study of the impact of stopping third trimester selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor exposure on neonatal health

ACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 6 2010
W. Warburton
Warburton W, Hertzman C, Oberlander TF. A register study of the impact of stopping third trimester selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor exposure on neonatal health. Objective:, To determine whether risk for adverse neonatal outcomes are reduced by stopping SSRI use before the end of pregnancy. Method:, Using population health data, maternal health and prenatal SSRI prescriptions were linked to neonatal birth records (N = 119 547) (1998,2001). Neonates SSRI-exposed in the last 14 days (L14) of gestation were compared with infants who had gestational exposure, but not during the last 14 days (NL14). Propensity score matching was used to control for potential confounders (total exposure, maternal health characteristics). Results:, Increased risk for neonatal respiratory distress was present where L14 exposure occurred compared with risk where exposure stopped before L14. However, controlling for potential maternal and neonatal confounders, differences disappeared. Conclusion:, Controlling for maternal illness severity, reducing exposure to SSRI's at the end of pregnancy had no significant clinical effect on improving neonatal health. These findings raise the possibility that some adverse neonatal outcomes may not be an acute pharmacological condition such as toxicity or withdrawal. [source]


Effects of excessive glucocorticoid receptor stimulation during early gestation on psychomotor and social behavior in the rat ,

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY, Issue 2 2010
Karine Kleinhaus
Abstract Severe psychological stress in the first trimester of pregnancy increases the risk of schizophrenia in the offspring. To begin to investigate the role of glucocorticoid receptors in this association, we determined the effects of the glucocorticoid dexamethasone (2,mg/kg), administered to pregnant rats on gestation days 6,8, on maternal behaviors and schizophrenia-relevant behaviors in the offspring. Dams receiving dexamethasone exhibited increased milk ejection bouts during nursing. Offspring of dexamethasone-treated dams (DEX) showed decreased juvenile social play and a blunted acoustic startle reflex in adolescence and adulthood, effects that were predicted by frequency of milk ejections in the dams. DEX offspring also showed increased prepulse inhibition of startle and reduced amphetamine-induced motor activity, effects not correlated with maternal behavior. It is postulated that over-stimulation of receptors targeted by glucocorticoids in the placenta or other maternal tissues during early gestation can lead to psychomotor and social behavioral deficits in the offspring. Moreover, some of these deficits may be mediated by alterations in postnatal maternal behavior and physiology produced by early gestational exposure to excess glucocorticoids. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 52:121,132, 2010 [source]


Metabolomics in the assessment of chemical-induced reproductive and developmental outcomes using non-invasive biological fluids: application to the study of butylbenzyl phthalate

JOURNAL OF APPLIED TOXICOLOGY, Issue 8 2009
Susan Sumner
Abstract This study was conducted to evaluate the use of metabolomics for improving our ability to draw correlations between early life exposures and reproductive and/or developmental outcomes. Pregnant CD rats were exposed by gavage daily during gestation to vehicle or to butylbenzyl phthalate (BBP) in vehicle at a level known to induce effects in the offspring and at a level previously not shown to induce effects. Urine was collected for 24,h (on dry ice using all glass metabolism chambers) from dams on gestational day 18 (during exposure) and on post natal day (pnd) 21, and from pnd 25 pups. Traditional phenotypic anchors were measured in pups (between pnd 0 and pnd 26). Metabolomics of urine collected from dams exposed to vehicle or BBP exhibited different patterns for endogenous metabolites. Even three weeks after gestational exposure, metabolic profiles of endogenous compounds in urine could differentiate dams that received the vehicle, low dose or high dose of BBP. Metabolic profiles could differentiate male from female pups, pups born to dams receiving the vehicle, low or high BBP dose, and pups with observable adverse reproductive effects from pups with no observed effects. Metabolites significant to the separation of dose groups and their relationship with effects measured in the study were mapped to biochemical pathways for determining mechanistic relevance. The application of metabolomics to understanding the mechanistic link between low levels of environmental exposure and disease/dysfunction holds huge promise, because this technology is ideal for the analysis of biological fluids in human populations. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Ethanol-Induced Oxidative Stress and Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Rat Placenta: Relevance to Pregnancy Loss

ALCOHOLISM, Issue 3 2010
Fusun Gundogan
Background:, Ethanol consumption during pregnancy increases the risk of early pregnancy loss and causes intrauterine growth restriction. We previously showed that chronic gestational exposure to ethanol impairs placentation, and that this effect is associated with inhibition of insulin and insulin growth factor signaling. Since ethanol also causes oxidative stress and DNA damage, we extended our investigations to assess the role of these pathological processes on placentation and placental gene expression. Methods:, Pregnant Long Evans rats were pair-fed liquid diets containing 0% or 24% ethanol by caloric content. Placentas harvested on gestation day 16 were used to examine DNA damage, lipid peroxidation, apoptosis, mitochondrial gene/protein and hormonal gene expression in relation to ethanol exposure. Results:, Gestational exposure to ethanol increased fetal resorption, and trophoblast apoptosis/necrosis, oxidative stress, DNA damage, and lipid peroxidation. These adverse effects of ethanol were associated with increased expression of pro-apoptotic (Bax and Bak) and reduced levels of the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein. In addition, increased trophoblast apoptosis proneness was associated with p53-independent activation of p21, reduced mitochondrial gene and protein expression, and dysregulated expression of prolactin (PRL) family hormones that are required for implantation and pregnancy-related adaptations. Conclusions:, Chronic gestational exposure to ethanol increases fetal demise due to impaired survival and mitochondrial function, increased oxidative stress, DNA damage and lipid peroxidation, and dysregulated expression of prolactin family hormones in placental trophoblasts. [source]


Effects of gestational exposure to 1.95-GHz W-CDMA signals for IMT-2000 cellular phones: Lack of embryotoxicity and teratogenicity in rats

BIOELECTROMAGNETICS, Issue 3 2009
Kumiko Ogawa
Abstract The present study was designed to evaluate whether gestational exposure to an EMF targeting the head region, similar to that from cellular phones, might affect embryogenesis in rats. A 1.95-GHz wide-band code division multiple access (W-CDMA) signal, which is one applied for the International Mobile Telecommunication 2000 (IMT-2000) system and used for the freedom of mobile multimedia access (FOMA), was employed for exposure to the heads of four groups of pregnant CD(SD) IGS rats (20 per group) for gestational days 7,17. The exposure was performed for 90 min/day in the morning. The spatial average specific absorption rate (SAR) for individual brains was designed to be 0.67 and 2.0 W/kg with peak brain SARs of 3.1 and 7.0 W/kg for low (group 3) and high (group 4) exposures, respectively, and a whole-body average SAR less than 0.4 W/kg so as not to cause thermal effects due to temperature elevation. Control and sham exposure groups were also included. At gestational day 20, all dams were killed and fetuses were taken out by cesarean section. There were no differences in maternal body weight gain. No adverse effects of EMF exposure were observed on any reproductive and embryotoxic parameters such as number of live (243,271 fetuses), dead or resorbed embryos, placental weights, sex ratios, weights or external, visceral or skeletal abnormalities of live fetuses. Bioelectromagnetics 30:205,212, 2009. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Paroxetine and fluoxetine in pregnancy: a prospective, multicentre, controlled, observational study

BRITISH JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY, Issue 5 2008
Orna Diav-Citrin
WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS SUBJECT , In recent years there has been concern regarding the possibility that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) cause an increased rate of congenital cardiovascular anomalies. , As of today, there is still debate in the literature as to the possible effects of paroxetine and fluoxetine on the embryonic cardiovascular system. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS , Based on prospective data from three Teratogen Information Services, we have demonstrated an increased rate of congenital cardiovascular anomalies among the offspring of fluoxetine- and paroxetine-treated mothers. AIMS Recent studies have suggested a possible association between maternal use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in early pregnancy and cardiovascular anomalies. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the teratogenic risk of paroxetine and fluoxetine. METHODS This multicentre, prospective, controlled study evaluated the rate of major congenital anomalies after first-trimester gestational exposure to paroxetine, fluoxetine or nonteratogens. RESULTS We followed up 410 paroxetine, 314 fluoxetine first-trimester exposed pregnancies and 1467 controls. After exclusion of genetic and cytogenetic anomalies, there was a higher rate of major anomalies in the SSRI groups compared with the controls [paroxetine 18/348 (5.2%), fluoxetine 12/253 (4.7%) and controls 34/1359 (2.5%)]. The main risk applied to cardiovascular anomalies [paroxetine 7/348 (2.0%), crude odds ratio (OR) 3.47, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.13, 10.58; fluoxetine 7/253 (2.8%), crude OR, 4.81 95% CI 1.56, 14.71; and controls 8/1359 (0.6%)]. On logistic regression analysis only cigarette smoking of ,10 cigarettes day,1 and fluoxetine exposure were significant variables for cardiovascular anomalies. The adjusted ORs for paroxetine and fluoxetine were 2.66 (95% CI 0.80, 8.90) and 4.47 (95% CI 1.31, 15.27), respectively. CONCLUSION This study suggests a possible association between cardiovascular anomalies and first-trimester exposure to fluoxetine. [source]