During early pregnancy, placentation occurs in a relatively hypoxic environment that is essential for appropriate embryonic development. Intervillous blood flow increases around 10 to 12 weeks of gestation and results in exposure of trophoblast cells to increased oxygen tension. Before this time, low oxygen appears to prevent trophoblast differentiation toward an invasive phenotype. Using human villous explants of 5-8 weeks' gestation, we found that low oxygen tension triggered trophoblast proliferation, fibronectin synthesis, α 5 integrin expression, and gelatinase A activity. These biochemical markers were barely detectable under oxic conditions. We therefore examined the placental expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1), a master regulator of oxygen homeostasis, and determined that expression of HIF-1α subunit during the first trimester of gestation parallels that of TGFβ 3 , an inhibitor of extravillous trophoblast differentiation. Expression of both molecules is high in early pregnancy and falls around 9 weeks of gestation, when placental pO 2 levels are believed to increase. Increasing oxygen tension induced a similar decrease in expression in cultured explants. Moreover, antisense inhibition of HIF-1α expression in hypoxic explants inhibited expression of TGFβ 3 , arrested cell proliferation, decreased α 5 expression and gelatinase A activity, and triggered biochemical markers of an invasive trophoblast phenotype such as α 1 integrin and gelatinase B expression. These data suggest that the oxygen-regulated early events of trophoblast differentiation are in part mediated by TGFβ 3 through HIF-1 transcription factors.

Our results provide molecular evidence that aberrant global placental gene expression changes in preeclampsia may be due to reduced oxygenation and that these events can successfully be mimicked by in vivo and in vitro models of placental hypoxia.

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transcription factor 4, p107/p130-binding; HIF1A, hypoxia inducible factor 1, a, subunit (basic helix-loophelix transcription factor); LC-MS/MS, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry; LAMP1, lysosomal-associated membrane protein 1; LC3B-II, cleaved and lipidated form of microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 b (MAP1LC3B/LC3B); MALDI-MS, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-mass spectrometry; MCL1, myeloid cell leukemia 1; PE, preeclampsia; PTC, preterm control; S1P, sphingosine-1-phosphate; Sa, sphinganine; siRNA, small-interfering ribonucleic acid; SQSTM1/p62, sequestosome 1; SM, sphingomyelin; SMPD1, sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase 1, acid lysosomal (acid sphingomyelinase); SNP, sodium nitroprusside (III); SPH, sphingosine; SPT, serine palmitoyltransferase; ST, syncytium/syncytiotrophoblast cells; TC, term control; TGFB, transforming growth factor b.Bioactive sphingolipids including ceramides are involved in a variety of pathophysiological processes by regulating cell death and survival. The objective of the current study was to examine ceramide metabolism in preeclampsia, a serious disorder of pregnancy characterized by oxidative stress, and increased trophoblast cell death and autophagy. Maternal circulating and placental ceramide levels quantified by tandem mass spectrometry were elevated in pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia. Placental ceramides were elevated due to greater de novo synthesis via high serine palmitoyltransferase activity and reduced lysosomal breakdown via diminished ASAH1 expression caused by TGFB3-induced E2F4 transcriptional repression. SMPD1 activity was reduced; hence, sphingomyelin degradation by SMPD1 did not contribute to elevated ceramide levels in preeclampsia. Oxidative stress triggered similar changes in ceramide levels and acid hydrolase expression in villous explants and trophoblast cells. MALDI-imaging mass spectrometry localized the ceramide increases to the trophophoblast layers and syncytial knots of placentae from pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia. ASAH1 inhibition or ceramide treatment induced autophagy in human trophoblast cells via a shift of the BOK-MCL1 rheostat toward prodeath BOK. Pharmacological inhibition of ASAH1 activity in pregnant mice resulted in increased placental ceramide content, abnormal placentation, reduced fetal growth, and increased autophagy via a similar shift in the BOK-MCL1 system. Our results reveal that oxidative stressinduced reduction of lysosomal hydrolase activities in combination with elevated de novo synthesis leads to ceramide overload, resulting in increased trophoblast cell autophagy, and typifies preeclampsia as a sphingolipid storage disorder.

The lungs of newborn rats exposed to 60% oxygen for 14 days develop an injury that shares morphologic similarities to human bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Neutrophil influx into the lung, as part of an inflammatory response, may play a pivotal role in the development of BPD. A neutrophil chemokine, cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant-1, which signals through the neutrophil CXC chemokine receptor-2, is increased in the lung tissue of newborn rats exposed to 60% oxygen. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of neutrophils in the rat model of BPD by inhibiting neutrophil influx using SB265610, a selective CXC chemokine receptor-2 antagonist. SB265610, administered to 60% oxygen-exposed newborn rats from birth to 14 days, completely inhibited neutrophil influx. It also attenuated increased production of reactive oxygen species in newborn rat lung tissue after exposure to 60% oxygen for 4 days. Lung morphometric analysis revealed that 60% oxygen for 14 days, when accompanied by treatment with SB265610 to prevent neutrophil accumulation, increased alveolar formation over that seen in newborn rats exposed to air. These data suggest that exposure of the neonatal lung to moderate hyperoxia may enhance postnatal lung growth, provided postnatal pulmonary inflammation is suppressed.

Recent investigations have suggested an active role for endothelial cells in organ development, including the lung. Herein, we investigated some of the molecular mechanisms underlying normal pulmonary vascular development and their influence on epithelial branching morphogenesis. Because the lung in utero develops in a relative hypoxic environment, we first investigated the influence of low oxygen on epithelial and vascular branching morphogenesis. Two transgenic mouse models, the C101-LacZ (epithelial-LacZ marker) and the Tie2-LacZ (endothelial-LacZ marker), were used. At embryonic day 11.5, primitive lung buds were dissected and cultured at either 20 or 3% oxygen. At 24-h intervals, epithelial and endothelial LacZ gene expression was visualized by X-galactosidase staining. The rate of branching of both tissue elements was increased in explants cultured at 3% oxygen compared with 20% oxygen. Low oxygen increased expression of VEGF, but not that of the VEGF receptor (Flk-1). Expression of two crucial epithelial branching factors, fibroblast growth factor-10 and bone morphogenetic protein-4, were not affected by low oxygen. Epithelial differentiation was maintained at low oxygen as shown by surfactant protein C in situ hybridization. To explore epithelial-vascular interactions, we inhibited vascular development with antisense oligonucleotides targeted against either hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha or VEGF. Epithelial branching morphogenesis in vitro was dramatically abrogated when pulmonary vascular development was inhibited. Collectively, the in vitro data show that a low-oxygen environment enhances branching of both distal lung epithelium and vascular tissue and that pulmonary vascular development appears to be rate limiting for epithelial branching morphogenesis.

On the basis of in vivo animal studies and on experiments of nature, it has been suggested that fetal breathing movements are essential for normal lung growth in utero. To study this hypothesis in vitro, we examined the effect of mechanical stretch on proliferation of fetal rat lung cells maintained in organotypic culture to provide a three-dimensional matrix. Initial studies demonstrated that stretch-mediated effects on cell division and DNA synthesis in such cultures were influenced by cell inoculation density, fetal calf serum concentration, and by the amplitude, frequency, periodicity, and duration of the applied stretch. After a 48-h exposure to an intermittent stretch pattern (5% elongation, 60 stretches/min for 15 min of each hour), cell number increased 10% (P less than 0.05), cell doubling time was reduced from 71 to 55 h (P less than 0.05), [3H]thymidine incorporation into DNA increased 61% (P less than 0.01), and the [3H]thymidine-labeling index increased 2.8-fold (P less than 0.001) compared with nonstretched controls. This effect did not appear to be mediated by prostaglandins or leukotrienes because the prostaglandin synthase inhibitors ibuprofen (2.5-50 microM) or BW 755C (5 microM), leukotriene biosynthesis inhibitors BW 755C (5 microM) or MK-886 (0.3 microM), and leukotriene D4 receptor antagonist MK-571 (0.3 microM) did not block stretch-mediated effects. We conclude that mechanical forces act directly to stimulate fetal rat lung cell growth and that these results are compatible with a significant role for fetal breathing in normal fetal lung growth.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)