Effects of thyroxin on palatogenesis, fetal resorptions, and fetal weights in A-Jax mice.
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CBA/J female mice mated with DBA/2J males show a high incidence of fetal resorptions. This paper presents data demonstrating that nonspecific immunopotentiation by complete Freund adjuvant (CFA) reversed pregnancy loss in CBA/J mothers. Immunization of more than 70 CBA/J females mated with DBA/2J males with CFA reduced the incidence of fetal resorption from 27.3 +/- 1.9 to 7.9 +/- 1.5%. The injection of Thymus Humoral Factor known to be a potent T cell stimulator did not reduce the number of fetal resorptions. The route of CFA distribution was found to be important--only foot pad injections were effective in fetal protection, whereas i.p. treatment did not reduce fetal resorptions. Fetal protection could be transferred by splenocytes of CFA-injected CBA/J mothers (9.6 +/- 5.0% fetal resorptions). Sera from treated CBA/J mice could not cause such an effect (17.6 +/- 4.6 vs. 21.3 +/- 6.1 in control animals). Thus, stimulation of the maternal immune system by nonspecific immunopotentiators can improve reproductive performance of this mouse combination which has an increased rate of pregnancy loss. Possible mechanisms of this fetal protection are discussed.
Certain strains of mice display an increased frequency of fetal resorption, but little is known about the effector mechanisms involved. We have examined the events associated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced fetal resorption in mice. Administration of 25 micrograms LPS on Day 12 of gestation resulted in the appearance of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in the amniotic fluid and fetal resorption. Levels of LPS-induced TNF-alpha were reduced by 90% after pretreatment with the TNF-alpha-suppressing drug pentoxifylline (PXF). Treatment of pregnant mice during early gestation with 0.1 micrograms LPS resulted in fetoplacental resorption which was maximal when the LPS was given on Day 8. Resorption induced by 0.1 micrograms LPS on Day 8 of gestation was significantly reduced by pretreatment with PXF. Infiltration of asialo-GM1-positive cells was observed in the decidual-ectoplacental cone area of embryonic units from LPS-treated mice. In addition, treatment with anti-AGM1 antiserum prevented the LPS-induced resorption. Our results suggest that TNF-alpha and asialo-GM1-positive cells are involved in LPS-induced fetal resorption.
First generation laboratory-born descendants of wild-caught house mice (Mus musculus domesticus Rutty) were bred to produce litters of primipares and of dams that had conceived a second litter either after lactational anestrus or within the postpartum estrus. At the day of birth, pups were sexed and the number of implanted and resorbed embryos was determined to evaluate the influence of mode of reproduction on litter gender composition and its relation to fetal resorption. No significant deviations from an even sex ratio occurred in the sample. The results indicate that primipares produced litters with subnormal dispersion of the gender distribution, but this could not unequivocally be attributed to fetal resorption. No significant bias in the litter gender composition was detectable within litters conceived after lactational anestrus. In contrast, the dispersion of the gender distribution was significantly supernormal in the litters of dams inseminated at postpartum estrus. Within this group, fetal resorption had a significant effect upon the sex ratio, and this relationship was significantly affected by the number of implanted embryos: resorbing dams produced male-biased litters at small and intermediate numbers of implantation sites and female-biased litters when the number of implanted embryos was large. It is argued that this is most likely attributable to sex-selective fetal resorption.
It is clear that the immune system and the reproductive system interact with and influence each other and that the immune system can have positive and negative regulatory effects on the outcome of pregnancy. The discovery of murine models of immunologically mediated spontaneous fetal resorptions has proved to be very useful for the study of immunological influences on pregnancy. In an attempt to elucidate the mechanisms underlying pregnancy impairment in one such "natural" model of pregnancy loss, we compared the expression of the cytokines tumor necrosis factor alpha, interferon tau, and interleukin-2 in placental tissue from a resorption-prone strain combination with the expression from a normal combination. We found significantly enhanced expression of these three cytokines in placentas from the resorption-prone combination using dot-blot hybridization and Northern hybridizations. Since these cytokines are abortifacients in vivo and have detrimental effects on the placenta, and hence on fetal development and survival, our demonstration of enhanced expression of these deleterious cytokines may give insight into the mechanisms involved in immunologically mediated spontaneous abortions.
Levels of circulating progesterone (P) were significantly reduced in socially subordinate female golden hamsters following brief exposures to another female. Reduced P levels were accompanied by an increased incidence of implantation failure when social interactions occurred on days 2-4 after mating and by increased fetal mortality when interactions occurred later during pregnancy (days 5-7 or 10-12). P levels, the incidence of implantation failure and rate of fetal resorption were highly correlated with the number of attacks and chases sustained by subordinate females. Smaller reductions in plasma P levels and marginally significant decreases in fecundity were also noted among dominant animals and among females paired with unfamiliar males later in pregnancy. The fact that these effects occurred even with relatively brief exposure periods suggests that they could occur in the wild.
Abdominal vagotomy on Day 8 of pregnancy in rats decreased the number of live fetuses at Day 16 and increased the number of resorbing fetuses. The activity of delta5-3beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3beta-HSD) in the corpus luteum and interstitial gland, LH and progesterone values in plasma and progesterone values in ovarian tissue were all lower in vagotomized rats than in sham-operated controls. Ovarian PGF levels were not affected. We suggest that these effects were caused by a direct effect of vagotomy on LH secretion which in turn lowers 3beta-HSD activity and progesterone levels in ovarian tissue and plasma, leading to fetal resorption.
Centchroman was administered to rats in relation to luteal phase nidatory estrogen secreted between 21.00 on day 4 and 10.00 on day 5 of pregnancy. A single oral dose of 1.25 mg/kg before the secretion of nidatory estrogen, i.e. until 21.00 on day 4, prevented implantation in 100% of the rats without altering plasma estradiol or progesterone concentration. Administration of a dose of up to 62.5 mg/kg at 10.00 on day 5 even failed to inhibit implantation, but caused dose-dependent resorption of implantations. Resorption of all implantations at a dose of 62.5 mg/kg was associated with a decrease in circulating progesterone levels, but was only partially reversed by progesterone or progesterone + estrone supplementation. Apparently normal morulae and blastocysts recovered between days 4 and 10 from rats treated with anti-implantation doses before release of nidatory estrogen, when transferred to the uteri of control rats exhibited lower pregnancy, implantation and development rates with increasing confinement in the genital tract of treated donors. None of the embryos recovered from control or centchroman treated females implanted in the uteri of treated rats. Centchroman administration on day 1, but not on day 5, abolished endometrial receptivity to an artificial stimulus for decidualization. All term fetuses were apparently normal and their weight comparable to that of control fetuses. The study provides evidence of post-implantation fetal resorption, occurring primarily between days 10 and 19 post-coitum, in rats treated with a potent antiestrogen before or immediately after the prenidatory estrogen secretion.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Observations on maternal recognition of the fetus and the demonstration of the effects of cytokines on reproductive events led to the "immunotrophism" model, which suggests that maternal immune recognition of fetally-derived Ags results in the release of cytokines that promote the growth of the placenta; any disturbance in this balance of cytokines could result in deleterious consequences for the placenta and, in turn, the fetus. We have focused our attention on the murine CBA/J x DBA/2 model of spontaneous abortions and compared them with normal CBA x BALB/c pregnancies. Our results indicate that the extent of stimulation of maternal strain lymphocytes in response to stimulator placental cells in mixed lymphocyte-placenta reactions (MLPR) was much higher in the normal mating combination compared with the abortion-prone mating combination. Cytokine analysis of the supernatants from MLPR indicates that there is significantly higher production of TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma, and IL-2 in supernatants from the abortion-prone combination than in supernatants from the normal combination. Furthermore, MLPR-stimulated cells induce resorptions in normal pregnant mice; maternal strain lymphocytes stimulated by placentas from the abortion-prone combination induce high rates of fetal resorptions, but lymphocytes stimulated with placentas from the normal combination do not. Together, these results suggest that immunologically mediated fetal resorptions probably result from improper or inappropriate maternal responses to placental Ags. Our observations also suggest that such effects are probably mediated by cytokines.
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PROBLEM: Ovine trophoblastin protein, be it natural or recombinant (oTP,r.oTP), a member of the tau interferon family (r.oIFN-tau), has been shown to possess immunosuppressive properties in vitro. It acts as a cytostatic agent across species. Indeed, it was immunosuppressive when tested on human and murine lymphocytes in a variety of in vitro immune assays, as it is also on syngenic (ovine) lymphocytes. METHODS: In the present paper, we first verified that this property to act across species also occurred in vivo assays; r.oTP was able to down regulate a local GVH reaction assay (PLN assay) in mice. We then took advantage of these properties of r.oTP to investigate its in vivo effects during murine pregnancy as there is no ovine equivalent of the murine CBA/J x DBA/2 resorption prone mating combination. RESULTS: When given in the postimplantation period, r.oTP drastically boosted resorptions in the CBA/J x DBA/2 matings, as did murine recombinant gamma interferon. However, the same r.oTP treatment in the peri-implantation period resulted in a reduction in resorptions in this spontaneous abortion system. CONCLUSION: The data suggested that r.oTP might have acted more by favouring implantation and embryo survival than by preventing the resorption process itself. The mechanisms possibly underlying these effects, as well as the putative uses of r.oTP evolving from these data, are discussed.
Immunopathology of the spontaneous resorption phenomenon in the CBA x DBA/J murine model was explored using morphometric analysis. Accompanying the previously reported presence of natural killer (NK) cells in resorptive feto-placental units we find major changes in tissue morphology indicating that early infiltration of the feto-placental unit by maternal leukocytes plays a direct role with NK cells in fetal demise. Total number of cell nuclei per field and total nuclear area per field were significantly elevated in feto-placental units containing abnormally increased NK cell presence before detectable resorption as early as day 7 of gestation. This difference persisted throughout all stages of early gestation up to and including the final resorption event at day 10 to 12. Increases in cell density were also detected in areas of the embryonic unit not associated with NK infiltration. These results demonstrate that the spontaneous resorption phenomenon in this model involves: (i) Early (day 7-8) cellular infiltration of the decidual-ectoplacental cone junction associated with the presence in this area of NK cells. (ii) Late (day 8-9) cellular infiltration of the ectoplacental cone.
The relationship between the early cellular response to embryo implantation and subsequent embryo survival was explored. Immunohistochemistry using the anti-CD11b antibody (Mac-1) was used to localize and quantify maternal inflammatory cells present at the fetoplacental interface. CD 11b is expressed mostly on macrophages, but is also present on natural killer (NK) cells, neutrophils, and B cells. The occurrence of CD11b-positive cells at the fetoplacental interface was quantified in CBA/J females mated by DBA/2 males (20-30% embryo loss) and CBA/J females mated by BALB/c males (5-10% embryo loss) in order to investigate the relationship between infiltration by these types of cells and subsequent embryo loss. CD11b-positive cells were found to infiltrate decidua of each embryo starting at Day 6 of gestation. Their numbers sharply increased on Days 7 and 8, to a plateau on Days 8 to 10, well before any damage to the embryo is macroscopically visible on Days 10 to 12 of gestation. The resorption-prone mating of CBA/J female by DBA/2 male showed a significantly elevated number of CD11b-positive cells in 26% of the embryos on the eighth day of gestation compared to CBA/J female by BALB/c male matings which were taken as the reference mating. Moreover, experimental conditions modulating fetal survival in CBA/J mothers such as poly (I:C) treatment of DBA/2-mated females (lower survival) or mating with BALB/c males (higher survival than with the mating with DBA/2 males), were found to be associated with high or low numbers numbers of CD11b-positive cells at the fetoplacental interface. Furthermore, injection of anti-CD 11b into pregnant mice at Day 6 of gestation significantly reduced the subsequent incidence of resorption in the resorption prone CBA/J x DBA/2 mating. These results suggest that CD11b-positive cells are associated with the etiology of spontaneous abortion in this system.
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Ochratoxin A (OA) and citrinin (CT) are food-borne mycotoxins produced by several fungal species of the genera Aspergillus and Penicillium. Both are teratogenic in the rat. To determine the prenatal effects of simultaneous exposure to these toxins, pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were injected either with a single individual subthreshold teratogenic dose of OA (1 mg/kg) or CT (30 mg/kg) or with both toxins. Toxins were dissolved in 5% sodium bicarbonate and administered subcutaneously on one of gestation d 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, or 14. Maternal body weight gain of animals in the combination group was similar to other treatment groups and the control. Approximately 22-40% mortality in dams occurred on gestation d 5, 6, 7, and 14. Other than d 7, there was no significant effect on the number of implants. Treatment on d 5 or 7 resulted in increased fetal resorptions. Fetal body weights were not decreased significantly. OA and CT in combination resulted in a significant increase in gross malformations on d 6 and 7, visceral anomalies on d 5, 7, 8, and 10, and skeletal defects on d 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, and 14. When administered individually, OA and CT resulted in very few fetal resorptions. Fetal body weights were not significantly different except on d 8 of gestation following CT treatment. Individual toxin treatment resulted in minimal malformations on all gestation days. These results suggest that OA and CT, when administered concurrently, may interact to enhance prenatal toxicity and teratogenicity, and these results have focussed attention on the public health hazards of contamination of food with these mycotoxins.
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