Placental metabolite profiles in late gestation for healthy mice

Abstract

Introduction: During pregnancy, appropriate placental metabolism is essential for fetuses to reach their growth potential. However, metabolic mechanisms during pregnancy remain poorly understood. Determination of the levels of placental metabolites in healthy pregnancy and how they change throughout gestation is critical for understanding placental function.

Objective: To determine the effects of gestational age on placental metabolites using healthy pregnant mice.

Methods: In the present study, we collected placental tissue samples from healthy pregnant mice at three timepoints in late gestation (n = 16 placentas per gestational age). Metabolite profiles were determined using ¹H high-resolution magic angle spinning magnetic resonance spectroscopy (HRMAS MRS).

Results: Using HRMAS MRS, we identified 14 metabolites in murine placental tissue samples. The relative concentration of 12 of the 14 metabolites remains unchanged throughout late gestation. Lysine was found to decrease significantly (p = 0.04) and glucose showed an inverted U-shape relationship (p = 0.03) with gestational age.

Conclusion: This study demonstrated the feasibility of HRMAS MRS to determine relative metabolite concentrations in murine placental tissue. These findings establish baseline levels of placental tissue metabolite profiles and will serve as reference ranges for future studies using mouse models of fetal distress.

Keywords: 1H high-resolution magic angle spinning magnetic resonance spectroscopy; Metabolomics; Mouse; Placenta; Pregnancy.