Prenatal Low Protein Diet Influences Placental Gene Expression In Rats

Abstract

Placental function and efficiency has been identified as a strong predictor of fetal growth and development. Because placenta acts as the only means for the fetus to obtain its nutrients, changes in placental morphology have dire consequences for fetal size and development. However, there is little data showing what physiological or external factors may cause these changes. This study intended to show that nutrition, specifically a low protein diet, contributes to altered expression of genes associated with placental health and transport capacity, including Igf2, H19, Atf3, Atf4, Dnmt1, Peg3, Glut1 and Snat2. Feeding pregnant rats a 9% low protein (LP) diet throughout gestation did not affect food intake or maternal weight. Atf3, but not Atf4 expression increased in LP placentas and there was a trend of increase in Igf2 and H19 expression. There was also a significant decrease in Peg3 and Dnmt1 expression in the LP group, and a significant increase in Glut1 and Snat2 expression. We did not detect changes in DNA methylation in many of these genes, indicating that control of gene expression for these genes is accomplished by means other than DNA methylation. Our study showed that mammalian amino acid response (AAR) pathway in placenta is up‐regulated by prenatal LP diet and this pathway can potentially cause other changes in placental gene expression.