Genetic ablation of placental sinusoidal trophoblast giant cells causes fetal growth restriction and embryonic lethality

J E Outhwaite; V McGuire; D G Simmons

doi:10.1016/j.placenta.2015.05.013

Genetic ablation of placental sinusoidal trophoblast giant cells causes fetal growth restriction and embryonic lethality

Placenta. 2015 Aug;36(8):951-5. doi: 10.1016/j.placenta.2015.05.013. Epub 2015 May 30.

Authors

J E Outhwaite¹, V McGuire¹, D G Simmons²

Affiliations

¹ School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia.
² School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia. Electronic address: d.simmons@uq.edu.au.

PMID: 26091829
DOI: 10.1016/j.placenta.2015.05.013

Abstract

A specialized subtype of trophoblast giant cells (TGCs) line the torturous sinusoids of the murine placental labyrinth, and can be distinguished from most other TGCs by the expression of Ctsq. We generated a transgenic mouse line expressing Cre recombinase from the Ctsq promoter. Crosses with Cre-inducible tdTomato reporter mice indicated Cre activity was restricted to the sinusoidal TGCs of the labyrinth, as well as the recently characterized channel TGCs. When crossed with Cre-inducible DTA transgenic mice, ablation of sinusoidal TGCs was achieved in double transgenic embryos, resulting in fetal growth restriction by E16.5, and embryonic lethality by term.

Keywords: Cathepsin Q; Cre recombinase; Diphtheria toxin; Placenta; Sinusoidal trophoblast giant cell; Transgenic mouse.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Female
Fetal Development / genetics*
Fetal Growth Retardation / metabolism*
Giant Cells / metabolism*
Mice
Mice, Transgenic
Placenta / metabolism*
Pregnancy
Promoter Regions, Genetic
Trophoblasts / metabolism*