The role of apelinergic system during the development of the cardiovascular system in the offspring of rat dams with depressive‐like behaviour during pregnancy
Authors: Cudnoch‐Jedrzejewska Agnieszka , Czarzasta Katarzyna , Wojciechowska Małgorzata , Segiet Agnieszka , Makowska‐Zubrycka Monika , Kasarełło Kaja , Tyszkowska Karolina , Matusik Katarzyna , Sajdel‐Sułkowska Elżbieta 
Published: June 2021

Introduction

Depression during pregnancy and lactation is a significant clinical problem that affects 7% to 19% of women. Often the depression develops early during the first trimester of pregnancy, during the fetal cardiovascular system development and is associated with increased levels of circulating cortisol that passes through the blood‐placenta barrier. ln turn, the increased cortisol inhibits the apelin synthesis and the apelinergic system activity that is essential for cardiogenesis and angiogenesis during the embryonic and fetal development.

Purpose

The main aim of the project is to investigate the effect of apelinergic system on the development of the cardiovascular system in the offspring of female Sprague Dawley rats (SD) with depressive‐like behaviour.

Methods

The research was carried out on 14 rat dams and their offspring of both sexes. Half of the dams underwent chronic immobilization stress to induce depression, the other dams were not stressed. The development of depression in dams was confirmed by a self‐care test and urinary corticosterone concentration. P28 weaned offspring underwent ECHO examination. Following the euthanasia. their hearts were removed for morphological, biochemical, and Real‐Time PCR analysis. Consent was obtained from The Local Animal Research Ethics Committee (031/2016).

Results

Heart morphology was normal and the left and right ventricle function were comparable in the offspring of both control and stressed dams. However, the offspring of stressed dams had a significantly higher left ventricular weight and increased heart rate, while the aortic diameter was lower in these rats compared to the offspring of control dams. Expression of BNP mRNA was significantly higher in the offspring of stressed compared to the offspring of control dams. Glucocorticoid receptor mRNA expression was significantly higher in the offspring of stressed compared to the offspring of control dams. On the other hand the apelin mRNA expression was significantly lower in the offspring of stressed than control dams, whereas the APJ mRNA expression was significantly higher in the offspring of stressed dams.

Conclusion

Our results indicate that maternal depression during pregnancy and lactation is associated with developmental cardiovascular abnormalities and lower apelinergic system activity. These observations support an important role of apelinergic system in the cardiovascular remodeling of the developing heart in response to maternal depression.

Support or Funding Information

This research was supported by the Medical University of Warsaw, Young Researcher's Grant (1MA/PM2/18).

This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.