Characterization of Macaque placental trophoblast and Hofbauer cell response to Zidovudine

Abstract

Summary An optimized procedure is developed to isolate macaque placental trophoblast and Hofbauer cells simultaneously in a quantity sufficient for short-term cultures. These placental cells isolated from six macaques were used to characterize the effects of zidovudine (azidothymidine, AZT) on their cellular functions. AZT inhibits DNA synthesis in macaque trophoblast cells in a concentration-dependent manner with half the maximal inhibitory concentration (IC 50 ) of 9.16±1.93 μM. Of the hormones evaluated, production of progesterone by trophoblast cells is most sensitive to AZT, with complete inhibition occurring at concentrations greater than 5μM. In the presence of 10 μM or greater, AZT inhibits 25–30% of placental lactogen and 35–50% of chorionic gonadotropin secretion by the trophoblast cells. However, AZT does not affect total cell protein synthesis in trophoblast or Hofbauer cells. Collectively, our results indicate that at clinically relevant concentrations (