Abstract
Objectives
Leptin (LEP) is a vital placental hormone that is known to affect different aspects of placental function and fetal development. The present study aimed to determine the association of placental LEP transcript abundance with maternal, placental, and newborn parameters.
Subjects/methods
In this retrospective case-control study, placental samples (n = 105) were collected from small (SGA) and appropriate (AGA) for gestational age full-term singleton pregnancies (n = 44 SGA and n = 61 AGA). Placental transcript abundance of LEP was assessed by real-time quantitative PCR after normalization to a reference gene panel. LEP methylation was measured using a quantitative MethyLight assay in a subset of samples (n = 54).
Results
Placental LEP transcript abundance was negatively and significantly associated with placental weight (β = −3.883, P = 0.015). This association continued to be significant in the SGA group (β = −10.332, P = 0.001), both in female (β = −15.423, P = 0.021) and male births (β = −10.029, P = 0.007). LEP transcript abundance was not associated with LEP methylation levels (Spearman’s ρ = 0.148, P = 0.287).
Conclusion
We conclude that placental upregulation of LEP is an integral and fetal sex-independent component of placental growth restriction, which can be potentially targeted through maternal dietary modifications to improve fetoplacental growth.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the pregnant women who participated in the study and doctors and nurses who made this study possible. The contribution of the research assistants Ms Nancy N, Ms Roopashree C, Ms Aruna BS, and Ms Arogya M who collected the samples and data is acknowledged. Histopath technician Ms Mahalakshmi S assisted the pathologists in placental grossing experiments. Research assistant Ms Hyfa Meeraj helped with the methylation experiments. We gratefully acknowledge the guiding role of Prof. TS Sridhar in initial establishment of human placental tissue related protocols. We thank Prof. Peter W. Laird for sharing leptin MethyLight primers and probe, which was used in this study.
Funding
This work was supported by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India (Grant Sanction order 102/IFD/SAN/749/2014-2015 to AM, AVK, and PD).
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Kochhar, P., Manikandan, C., Ravikumar, G. et al. Placental expression of leptin: fetal sex-independent relation with human placental growth. Eur J Clin Nutr 74, 1603–1612 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-020-0649-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-020-0649-9