Biology subjects

de Oliva, S. U.

Publications and source records attributed to de Oliva, S. U..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2020

Carbamazepine Causes Changes in Maternal Reproductive Performance and Fetal Growth Retardation in Rats

PurposeCarbamazepine (CBZ) is widely used in the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia, affective disorders, and mainly as an anticonvulsant, specially by fertile women, due to their need to continuously use CBZ during pregnancy and the lactation period. CBZ crosses the placenta barrier and may impair pregnancy and the embryonic development. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of CBZ on maternal reproductive outcome, besides fetal growth and development in Wistar rats. MethodsRat dams received CBZ (20mg/Kg/day) or propylene glycol (vehicle) via intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection throughout the gestational period. On the 19th day of gestation, the ovary and uterine contents were examined, and the placenta and fetuses were analyzed. ResultsThe CBZ exposure during pregnancy caused a reduction in fetal weight, fetal weight classification, and crown-rump distance. CBZ also decreased the implantation index, average number of corpora lutea, fetal weights and crown-rump length and increased the pre and post-implantation loss rate. The CBZ-exposed fetus also presented external congenital malformations. ConclusionThe results suggest that maternal exposure to CBZ interfered on several maternal reproductive outcomes and can cause severe fetal intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR).

developmental biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Non-apoptotic Role of Cleaved Caspase-3 in Rat Male Germ Cell Development

Germ cells emerge from the epiblast and migrate to the gonads, where they become gonocytes. The gonocytes are the precursors of the spermatogonial stem cells, but little is known about their differentiation. The rigid control of gonocyte proliferation, quiescence and pluripotency marker expression is crucial for spermatogonia development. We have previously suggested that cleaved caspase-3 (Casp3) might play a non-apoptotic role in gonocyte quiescence. Here we describe when rat fetal gonocyte enter mitotic arrest and show that Casp3 inhibition in these cells affects the expression of cell cycle genes. The expression of Ki67, p27Kip, Retinoblastoma 1 (pRb1), NANOG and CASP3 was investigated in 15, 17 and 19 days post coitum rat embryo gonads. The results show that Ki67 and pRB1 proteins are downregulated from 15 days post coitum to 19 days post coitum, whereas p27Kip, NANOG and CASP3 are upregulated. This suggests that rat germ cells start to enter quiescence around 15dpc and that CASP3 and NANOG seem to play a role in this process. CASP3 labelling formed a ring in gonocyte cytoplasm, which is clearly distinct from apoptotic cell labelling, and coincided with NANOG labelling. CASP3 inhibition lead to an increase of Pcna expression and to a decrease of p27kip and p21cip expression. These results suggest that cleaved CASP3 has a role in rat male germ cell development which can be related to the control of the cell cycle genes.

developmental biology↗