Overexposure to prenatal dexamethasone (Dex) prospects to small placental and fetal size and the alteration of fetal programming. and Dex treatment (FD). The results showed the maternal folate increases the placental size, birth excess weight, and manifestation of matrix metalloproteinases 9 (MMP9) inside a mice model of Dex overexposure. In human extravillous trophoblast HTR8/SVneo, folate ameliorated the Dex-induced supress Adrucil manufacturer of cell migration and improved the expression/activity of MMP2 and MMP9. In conclusion, folate might be a potential therapy intervention to reduce the adverse effects of prenatal Dex exposure partially via improved trophoblast migration. 0.05 were considered significant differences. Results In this study, a prenatal Dex-exposed mice model with or without perinatal folate supplementation was established to assess variability of placental and fetal growth. Dex exposure resulted in the reduction of placental weight and diameter ( 0.05, Figure 1A), as well as that of fetal weight at E18 ( 0.01, Figure 1B). With the administration of folate, a significant increase in placental and fetal weight in the FD group was observed when comparing with the ND group ( 0.01, Figure 1A). No significant difference of placental diameter was presented between the ND and FD group (Figure 1B). The placental mRNA expression of MMP9 was decreased by excess Dex (NN vs. ND, 0.05, Figure 1C). This reduction was ameliorated by the maternal administration of folate (ND vs. FD, 0.05, Figure 1C). Open in a separate window Figure 1 Effects of prenatal dexamethasone and/or Rabbit Polyclonal to CDON folic acid on the mice placental size (A), fetal weight (B), and mRNA expression of MMP2 and MMP9 (C). The placental and fetal measurements were calculated as litter average. The n number represents number of dams. Data represents mean S.E.M in each group, * 0.05, ** 0.01. NN, normal drinking water + Saline injection group; ND, normal drinking water + Dex injection group; FN, drinking water with folate + Saline injection group; FD, drinking water with folate + Dex injection group. To further investigate the potential impacts Adrucil manufacturer of folate on the placenta exposed to Dex, human EVT cells HTR-8/SVneo were subject to Dex and/or folate. The migration of HTR-8/SVneo cells with the 20 M Dex treatment was reduced by around 45.6% ( 0.01, Figure 2A, ?,2B),2B), consistent with a 60% reduction in the MMP9 mRNA expression ( 0.01; Figure 2C). The migration of cells with the 10-6 M folate and 20 M Dex (FD) treatment was significantly enhanced by 216% compared to that of cells with the ND treatment ( 0.001, Figure 2A, ?,2B),2B), accompanied by a 120% increase in the MMP9 mRNA expression ( 0.05, Figure 2C). Open in a separate window Figure 2 Effects of prenatal dexamethasone and/or folic acid on the migration and the MMPs expression in HTR-8/SVneo cells. A. HTR-8/SVneo cells migrating from the upper chamber (green), magnification 100, Bar = 100 m. B. Cell density of migrated HTR-8/SVneo cells. Each chamber, cells were calculated from five randomly collected visions under fluorescence microscopy. C. Adrucil manufacturer The MMP9 mRNA level of HTR-8/SVneo cells. Data represents mean S.E.M from three assays, * 0.05, ** 0.01, *** 0.001. NN, control; ND, Dex treatment; FN, folate treatment; FD, dex and folate treatment. Gelatin zymography was performed to measure the natural activity of MMP2 and MMP9 in human being EVT cells HTR-8/SVneo. Using the 20 M Dex treatment, the experience of MMP2 was decreased though without factor (P = 0.073, Figure 3A, ?,3B),3B), while that of MMP9 was reduced considerably by 32% ( 0.001; Shape 3A, ?,3B).3B). The experience of MMP2 in the cells using the folate supplementation (FD) improved by 37% in comparison with that in the cells using the ND treatment ( 0.05, Figure 3A, ?,3B).3B). Although different MMP9 activity of cells was.