Effects of Maternal Smoking on the Placental Expression of Genes Related to Angiogenesis and Apoptosis during the First Trimester

Abstract

ObjectiveMaternal cigarette smoking is reportedly associated with miscarriage, fetal growth restriction and placental abruption, and is paradoxically associated with a decreased risk of developing preeclampsia. In the present study, we investigated the gene expression levels of villous tissues in early gestation. We compared the expression levels of the genes related to angiogenesis and apoptosis in the villous tissues obtained from smoking and non-smoking pregnant women.Materials and MethodsWe collected villous tissue samples from 57 women requesting surgical termination due to non-medical reasons at 6–8 weeks of gestation. The maternal cigarette smoking status was evaluated by the level of serum cotinine and patients were divided into active smokers and non-smokers by the serum cotinine level. The placental levels of VEGFA, PGF, FLT1, HIF1A, TP53, BAX and BCL2 mRNA were quantified by real time PCR.ResultsThe gene expression level of PGF and HIF1A in the active smoker group was significantly higher than that in the non-smoker group. We did not observe any significant differences in the VEGFA or FLT1 expression between the groups. In active smoker group, the gene expression levels of TP53 and BAX were significantly higher than those in the non-smoker group. The ratio of BAX/BCL2 mRNA in the active smoker group was significantly higher than that in the non-smoker group.ConclusionsOur findings revealed that smoking might affect the placenta during early pregnancy. Maternal cigarette smoking in early pregnancy may be associated with villus hypoxia, which may influence angiogenesis and apoptosis.

Benefits of smoking bans on preterm and early-term births: a natural experimental design in Switzerland

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A synergistic negative effect of gestational smoke-exposure and small litter size on rat placental efficiency, vascularisation and angiogenic factors mRNA expression

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Habitual Alcohol Consumption during Pregnancy and Perinatal Outcomes

“…Smoking has been found to be strongly associated with increased risks of adverse perinatal outcomes, such as low BW and placental abruption 8 11 . The specific abnormalities that are caused by maternal smoking have been reported to provide additional insights into the genes and processes that are crucial for the formation of the feto-maternal interface in human pregnancy, leading to the adverse perinatal outcomes 9 . The present data also show that smoking was independently associated with placental abruption or being SGA when the same statistical analyses were performed.…”