214: Differential regulation of placental mitochondrial morphometry in a baboon model of maternal obesity

Abstract

models. STUDY DESIGN: As placental model systems, primary villous tissue of term placentae following normal pregnancies and the BeWo choriocarcinoma cell line were used. Protein expression was assessed by Western blot analysis of whole tissueor cell lysate, as well as of syncytial basal membrane(BM) and apical microvillous membrane-enriched (MVM) fractions (obtained following differential ultra-centrifugation and magnesium precipitation). The mRNA levels of transport proteins were analyzed by real-time PCR. RESULTS: GLUT-1 and GLUT-9 proteins were detected in primary villous tissue. GLUT-1 protein concentration was lower in BM than in MVM. The gene expression of both GLUT-9 isoforms, namely GLUT-9a and GLUT-9b, were detected in placental villous tissue as well as in BeWo cells. The GLUT-9b mRNA level was higher than the one of GLUT-9a. CONCLUSION: GLUT-1 was asymmetrically expressed on syncytial basal and apical microvillous membranes. Further, in placental tissue the GLUT-9b mRNA level is higher than the one of GLUT-9a. Further studies are needed to elucidate the potential role of GLUT-1 and GLUT -9 in the pathogenesis of pregnancy-specific diseases such as preeclampsia or gestational diabetes.