Table 1.
PCR primers designed for genes of interest.
Fig 1.
Uteroplacental circulation in control and IUGR pregnant rats.
(A) Doppler flow velocity waveforms obtained in the uterine artery of a control rat at day 14 and 21 of gestation. (B) Peak systolic velocity, (C) end diastolic velocity and (D) resistance index in the uterine artery. Results are expressed as means ± SEM from 8 animals/group. † P<0.05, two-way ANOVA, effect of gestational day; * P<0.05 vs. control pregnant rat, Bonferroni post test. PSV: peak systolic velocity; EDV, end diastolic velocity; RI, resistance index.
Fig 2.
Umbilical circulation in control and IUGR animals.
(A) Doppler velocity waveforms recorded from the umbilical cord of a control fetus on day 18 and 21 of gestation. (B) Peak systolic velocity in umbilical cord. Results are expressed as means ± SEM from 8 fetuses/group. † P<0.05, two-way ANOVA, effect of gestational day.
Fig 3.
Myogenic responses of radial uterine artery supplying a placenta from control and IUGR 22-day pregnant rats.
(A) pressure-diameter relationship, (B) myogenic tone and (C) distensibility. Results are expressed as means ± SEM from 18 blood vessel segments from 9 rats/group. * P<0.05, two-way ANOVA vs. control pregnant rat. Di: internal diameter at a given pressure. Do: original diameter measured at 10mmHg.
Fig 4.
Expression of hypoxia markers in placenta from IUGR 22-day pregnant rats compared to their controls.
Relative placental mRNA expression of HIF-1α, VEGFA and VEGFR2 in placenta from term IUGR placenta. Each point represents one placenta. Ct average of each duplicate was calculated for each gene and 18S and the ΔCT (CTgene—CT18S) was determined. The control placental tissue sample was chosen as a reference sample and set as 100% of gene quantity. The mRNA abundance of the placenta was calculated with the formula 2-ΔΔCT. Results are expressed as means ± SEM. (n = 8 rats/genes). * P<0.05, one sample Student’s t test.
Fig 5.
Immunostaining of caspase-3 (A, B) and -9 (C, D) in placenta from control and IUGR 22-day pregnant rats.
Quantification of caspase 3 (cleaved) and 9 expression in the junctional (A, C) and labyrinth (B, D) zones. Each point represents one placenta. Global Score = (MI x Area)LOW + (MI x Area)MOD + (MI x Area)STRONG / Total Area of ROI (see Methods). (n = 6 rats/group). Representative immunostaining of cleaved caspase-3 from placenta of control rats (E). Inset: Arrow indicates brown positive stains.
Fig 6.
Presence of glycogen cell clusters (GC) in placenta from control and IUGR 22-day pregnant rats.
Surface area of GC clusters in junctional (A) and labyrinth (B) zones. Number of GC clusters in junctional (C) and labyrinth (D) zones. Each point represents one placenta. Results are expressed as means ± SEM from 6 rats/group. *P<0.05 vs. control pregnant rat, Student’s t test. Representative placenta of control (E) and IUGR (F) rat (HE stain).