Sood Ruchira, Zehnder James L, Druzin Maurice L, Brown Patrick O
Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Apr 4;103(14):5478-83. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0508035103. Epub 2006 Mar 27.
The placenta is the principal metabolic, respiratory, excretory, and endocrine organ for the first 9 months of fetal life. Its role in fetal and maternal physiology is remarkably diverse. Because of the central role that the placenta has in fetal and maternal physiology and development, the possibility that variation in placental gene expression patterns might be linked to important abnormalities in maternal or fetal health, or even variations in later life, warrants investigation. As an initial step, we used DNA microarrays to analyze gene expression patterns in 72 samples of amnion, chorion, umbilical cord, and sections of villus parenchyma from 19 human placentas from successful full-term pregnancies. The umbilical cord, chorion, amnion, and villus parenchyma samples were readily distinguished by differences in their global gene-expression patterns, many of which seemed to be related to physiology and histology. Differentially expressed genes have roles that include placental trophoblast secretion, signal transduction, metabolism, immune regulation, cell adhesion, and structure. We found interindividual differences in expression patterns in villus parenchyma and systematic differences between the maternal, fetal, and intermediate layers. A group of genes that was expressed in both the maternal and fetal villus parenchyma sections of placenta included genes that may be associated with preeclampsia. We identified sets of genes whose expression in placenta was significantly correlated with the sex of the fetus. This study provides a rich and diverse picture of the molecular variation in the placenta from healthy pregnancies.
胎盘是胎儿生命最初9个月的主要代谢、呼吸、排泄和内分泌器官。它在胎儿和母体生理中的作用极为多样。由于胎盘在胎儿和母体生理及发育中起着核心作用，胎盘基因表达模式的变化可能与母体或胎儿健康的重要异常情况，甚至与后期生活中的变化相关联，这一可能性值得研究。作为第一步，我们使用DNA微阵列分析了来自19例足月成功妊娠的人类胎盘的72个羊膜、绒毛膜、脐带和绒毛实质切片样本中的基因表达模式。脐带、绒毛膜、羊膜和绒毛实质样本通过其整体基因表达模式的差异很容易区分，其中许多差异似乎与生理和组织学有关。差异表达基因的作用包括胎盘滋养层分泌、信号转导、代谢、免疫调节、细胞黏附和结构。我们发现绒毛实质中的表达模式存在个体差异，以及母体、胎儿和中间层之间的系统性差异。一组在胎盘的母体和胎儿绒毛实质切片中均表达的基因包括可能与子痫前期相关的基因。我们鉴定出了一组基因，其在胎盘中的表达与胎儿性别显著相关。这项研究提供了一幅来自健康妊娠胎盘分子变异的丰富多样图景。
