Do nutritional interventions before or during pregnancy affect placental phenotype? Findings from a systematic review of human clinical trials.

Background: Maternal nutritional interventions aim to address nutrient deficiencies in pregnancy, a leading cause of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. How these interventions influence the placenta, which plays a vital role in fetal growth and nutrient supply, is not well understood. This leaves a major gap in understanding how such interventions could influence pregnancy outcomes and fetal health.

Altered placental phenotype and increased risk of placental pathology in fetal spina bifida: A matched case-control study.

Introduction: Spina bifida (SB) remains one of the most common congenital anomalies and associates with significant comorbidities in the fetus, which may, in part, be driven by placental maldevelopment. We hypothesised that placental pathologies would be more prevalent in fetuses with SB compared to fetuses without congenital anomalies.

Methods: Placental pathology and transcriptome were evaluated for fetuses with isolated open SB born preterm (cases; n = 12) and control fetuses without congenital anomalies (n = 22) born at full term (FT) or preterm (PT).

The unrevealed links: periodontal health, human milk composition, and infant gut microbiome dynamics.

Aim: This review aims to identify the mechanistic relationships related to periodontal diseases and its possible association with changes in human milk composition and the composition and function of infants' gut microbiome.

Background: Maternal health conditions, especially inflammatory, are associated with altered human milk composition. It is known whether maternal oral inflammatory diseases, including periodontal diseases, deleteriously affect human milk composition.

Gestational Age, Infection, and Suboptimal Maternal Prepregnancy BMI Independently Associate with Placental Histopathology in a Cohort of Pregnancies without Major Maternal Comorbidities.

The placenta undergoes morphological and functional adaptations to adverse exposures during pregnancy. The effects ofsuboptimal maternal body mass index (BMI), preterm birth, and infection on placental histopathological phenotypes are not yet well understood, despite the association between these conditions and poor offspring outcomes. We hypothesized that suboptimal maternal prepregnancy BMI and preterm birth (with and without infection) would associate with altered placental maturity and morphometry, and that altered placental maturity would associate with poor birth outcomes.

Altered placental immune cell composition and gene expression with isolated fetal spina bifida.

Problem: Fetal spina bifida (SB) is more common in pregnant people with folate deficiency or anomalies of folate metabolism. It is also known that fetuses with SB have a higher risk of low birthweight, a condition that is typically placental-mediated. We therefore hypothesized that fetal SB would associate with altered expression of key placental folate transporters and an increase in Hofbauer cells (HBCs), which are folate-dependent placental macrophages.

Fetal spina bifida associates with dysregulation in nutrient-sensitive placental gene networks: Findings from a matched case-control study.

To improve outcomes in fetuses with spina bifida (SB), better understanding is needed of the molecular drivers of SB and its comorbidities. Pregnant people carrying a fetus with isolated SB (cases; n = 12) or a fetus with no congenital anomalies (controls; n = 21) were recruited at Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Clinical data and placental samples were collected.

Sensory evaluations of a novel iron and zinc-enriched powder for the potential treatment and prevention of iron deficiency in women of reproductive age.

Iron deficiency (ID) and ID with anaemia (IDA) are serious global health problems that disproportionately affect women aged 15-49 years. Although food fortification is one of the most effective and sustainable ways to combat nutritional deficiencies, iron remains one of the most difficult micronutrients to fortify, given its tendency to react strongly with food constituents. Therefore, it is important to assess the sensory properties of foods fortified with iron to determine the acceptability and palatability in target populations.

Building strong health and career trajectories through translational research.

Translational research (TR) is the movement of fundamental scientific discoveries into healthcare settings and population health policy, and parallels the goals of DOHaD research. Unfortunately, there is little guidance on how to become a translational researcher. To understand the opinions of DOHaD trainees towards TR, we conducted a workshop at the DOHaD World Congress 2022.

Impact of Co-Occurrence of Obesity and SARS-CoV-2 Infection during Pregnancy on Placental Pathologies and Adverse Birth Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis.

Obesity is a risk factor for severe COVID-19 disease during pregnancy. We hypothesized that the co-occurrence of high maternal body mass index (BMI) and gestational SARS-CoV-2 infection are detrimental to fetoplacental development. We conducted a systematic review following PRISMA/SWiM guidelines and 13 studies were eligible.

Effect of maternal periconceptional undernutrition in sheep on cortisol regulation in offspring from mid-late gestation, through to adulthood.

Introduction: Maternal periconceptional undernutrition (PCUN) alters fetal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPAA) function and placental glucocorticoid metabolism in sheep. The effects of PCUN on HPAA function in adult life are not known. We investigated the effects of PCUN on fetal adrenal development across gestation and on cortisol regulation in adult offspring.

Identification of novel nutrient-sensitive gene regulatory networks in amniocytes from fetuses with spina bifida.

Neural tube defects (NTDs) remain among the most common congenital anomalies. Contributing risk factors include genetics and nutrient deficiencies, however, a comprehensive assessment of nutrient-gene interactions in NTDs is lacking. We applied a nutrient-focused gene expression analysis pipeline to identify nutrient-sensitive gene regulatory networks in amniocyte gene expression data (GSE4182) from fetuses with NTDs (cases; n = 3) and fetuses with no congenital anomalies (controls; n = 5).

The Association between Maternal Oral Inflammation and Neutrophil Phenotypes and Poly-Unsaturated Fatty Acids Composition in Human Milk: A Prospective Cohort Study.

This prospective cohort study aimed to investigate the impact of maternal oral inflammation on human milk composition including neutrophil counts, activation state (based on cluster of differentiation (CD) markers expression), and fatty acid levels. Fifty mothers were recruited from St. Michael's hospital, Toronto, and followed up from 2-4 weeks until 4 months postpartum.

Adaptation of the gut holobiont to malnutrition during mouse pregnancy depends on the type of nutritional adversity.

Malnutrition can influence maternal physiology and programme offspring development. Yet, in pregnancy, little is known about how dietary challenges that influence maternal phenotype affect gut structure and function. Emerging evidence suggests that interactions between the environment, multidrug resistance (MDR) transporters and microbes may influence maternal adaptation to pregnancy and regulate fetoplacental development.

Maternal Underweight and Obesity Are Associated with Placental Pathologies in Human Pregnancy.

Maternal underweight and obesity are prevalent conditions, associated with chronic, low-grade inflammation, poor fetal development, and long-term adverse outcomes for the child. The placenta senses and adapts to the pregnancy environment in an effort to support optimal fetal development. However, the mechanisms driving these adaptations, and the resulting placental phenotypes, are poorly understood.

Relationships between maternal body mass index and child cognitive outcomes at 3 years of age are buffered by specific early environments in a prospective Canadian birth cohort.

Fetal and child development are shaped by early life exposures, including maternal health states, nutrition and educational and home environments. We aimed to determine if suboptimal pre-pregnancy maternal body mass index (BMI; underweight, overweight, obese) would associate with poorer cognitive outcomes in children, and whether early life nutritional, educational and home environments modify these relationships. Self-reported data were obtained from mother-infant dyads from the pan-Canadian prospective Maternal-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals cohort.

Translational Comparison of the Human and Mouse Yolk Sac Development and Function.

The yolk sac (YS) is the oldest of the extraembryonic membranes in vertebrates. Considered a transitory structure in the human species, the importance of the YS for a successful pregnancy is often overlooked. Due to the general inaccessibility of healthy human YS tissue for research, the use of experimental animal models is of great value.

Mining Early Life Risk and Resiliency Factors and Their Influences in Human Populations from PubMed: A Machine Learning Approach to Discover DOHaD Evidence.

The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) framework aims to understand how early life exposures shape lifecycle health. To date, no comprehensive list of these exposures and their interactions has been developed, which limits our ability to predict trajectories of risk and resiliency in humans. To address this gap, we developed a model that uses text-mining, machine learning, and natural language processing approaches to automate search, data extraction, and content analysis from DOHaD-related research articles available in PubMed.

Preterm Birth Associates With Increased Placental Expression of MDR Transporters Irrespective of Prepregnancy BMI.

Context: Preterm birth (PTB) and suboptimal prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) operate through inflammatory pathways to impair fetoplacental development. Placental efflux transporters mediate fetal protection and nutrition; however, few studies consider the effect of both PTB and BMI on fetal protection. We hypothesized that PTB would alter the expression of placental multidrug resistance (MDR) transporters and selected proinflammatory cytokines, and that maternal underweight and obesity would further impair placental phenotype.

The international Perinatal Outcomes in the Pandemic (iPOP) study: protocol.

Preterm birth is the leading cause of infant death worldwide, but the causes of preterm birth are largely unknown. During the early COVID-19 lockdowns, dramatic reductions in preterm birth were reported; however, these trends may be offset by increases in stillbirth rates. It is important to study these trends globally as the pandemic continues, and to understand the underlying cause(s).

Isolated fetal neural tube defects associate with increased risk of placental pathology: Evidence from the Collaborative Perinatal Project.

Introduction: Neural tube defects (NTDs) are amongst the most common congenital anomalies and are associated with significant postnatal morbidity, but also with a higher incidence of low birthweight and fetal growth restriction. Despite the placenta being a critical determinant of fetal growth, placental development has not been extensively studied in fetuses with NTDs.

Methods: We performed a matched case-cohort study using data from the Collaborative Perinatal Project to assess the risk of placental pathology in pregnancies with an isolated fetal NTD (cases; n = 74) compared to those without any congenital anomalies (controls; n = 148).

Altered Umbilical Cord Blood Nutrient Levels, Placental Cell Turnover and Transporter Expression in Human Term Pregnancies Conceived by Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI).

Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) may increase risk for abnormal placental development, preterm delivery and low birthweight. We investigated placental morphology, transporter expression and paired maternal/umbilical fasting blood nutrient levels in human term pregnancies conceived naturally ( = 10) or by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI; = 11). Maternal and umbilical vein blood from singleton term (>37 weeks) C-section pregnancies were assessed for levels of free amino acids, glucose, free fatty acids (FFA), cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL), very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) and triglycerides.

Are Probiotics and Prebiotics Safe for Use during Pregnancy and Lactation? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Probiotic and prebiotic products have shown potential health benefits, including for the prevention of adverse pregnancy outcomes. The incidence of adverse effects in pregnant people and their infants associated with probiotic/prebiotic/synbiotic intake, however, remains unclear. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the evidence on adverse effects of maternal probiotic, prebiotic, and/or synbiotic supplementation during pregnancy and lactation and interpret the findings to help inform clinical decision-making and care of this population.