Effects of Maternal Hypertensive Disorders on the Expression of Arginine Vasopressin Receptors in Offspring
Authors: Santillan Donna Ann , Davis Lauren A , Devor Eric J , Sharp Lydia E , Hamilton Wendy S , Brandt Debra S , Thomas Kellie M , Santillan Mark K , Scroggins Sabrina M 
Published: June 2021

Children born to women with hypertensive disorders inpregnancy have an elevated risk of developing hypertensive disorders later inlife. The mechanisms for this fetal programming are unclear. We have previouslyidentified a critical role for arginine vasopressin (AVP) in the development ofpreeclampsia. Additionally, we demonstrated differences in the expression ofAVP receptors on circulating cells in women who developed preeclampsia comparedto women who did not experience preeclampsia. Because AVP is a hormone thatfunctions to regulate blood pressure and volume homeostasis, we hypothesizedthat differences in expression of vasopressin receptors and related genes arealso altered in children born to women with preeclampsia.

We measured the expression of receptors AVPR1a, AVPR1b, AVPR2, OXTR, and CUL5 as well as LNPEP, the major aminopeptidase that cleavesAVP. Expression in umbilical cord blood cells from women with 1) no hypertensivedisorders in pregnancy (control subjects) (N=20) 2) pregnant women with chronichypertension (N=20) and 3) women with preeclampsia (N=10) in the indexpregnancy were compared. Coded umbilical cord blood cells and associated clinicaldata were obtained from the University of Iowa Maternal Fetal Tissue Bank (IRB#200910784). RNA was purified from the cells and used for real‐time quantitativePCR to assess variation in receptor expression in children born to women withhypertensive disorders of pregnancy relative to control subjects. In childrenborn to women with chronic hypertension, AVPR2 (−8.2 Fold Change), LNPEP (−13Fold Change), CUL5 (−14 Fold Change) AVPR1b (−3.1 Fold Change) and OXTR (−4.3Fold Change) were all significantly under‐expressed with controls. Samples fromchildren born to women with preeclampsia had significantly lower expression of AVPR1a(−4.7 Fold Change), AVPR1b (−2.5 Fold Change), AVPR2 (−2.5 Fold Change), andOXTR (−2.8 Fold Change) when compared to non‐preeclamptic samples. Thesedifferences in gene expression may be related to the future risk ofhypertension later in life for children born to women with hypertensivediseases in pregnancy. In future work, we will interrogate different cellpopulations. In addition, we will determine whether maternal peripheral bloodvasopressin receptor expression correlates with child cord blood receptorexpression.

This work was supported by the Iowa Center for Research byUndergraduates (LD), NIH CTSA grant UL1TR002537, American Heart AssociationPostdoctoral Fellowship (SS), and the American Heart Association StrategicallyFocused Research Network Grant (MS, DS, SS).

Support or Funding Information

This work was supported by the Iowa Center for Research by Undergraduates (LD), NIH CTSA grant UL1TR002537, American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship (SS), and the American Heart Association Strategically Focused Research Network Grant (MS, DS, DB, KW, SS).

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