Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine: Heightened inflammation susceptibility of the preterm fetus?
Preterm placenta may be more susceptible to maternal infection-induced placental cytokine response resulting in fetal inflammation, new research reveals.
The preterm placenta may be more susceptible to maternal infection-induced placental cytokine response resulting in fetal inflammation, reported researchers from UCLA Medical Center.
Julie Boles, MD, and colleagues used pregnant rats to determine that at day 16 of a 21-day term, placental explants exposed to 1 g/mL lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for 6 hours demonstrated a significant increase in IL-6 (5,072±624 vs 2,062±587 pg/mL/g tissue; P<.01), with a further increase after 12 hours (9,290±467 vs 2,313±268 pg/mL/g tissue; P<.01) compared with unexposed placentas.
In addition, the IL-6 cytokine response to 12-hour exposure to 1 g/mL LPS in 16-day placental explants was twice as high as that in 18-day placental explants.
Maternal hypertension and diabetes linked to worse offspring cardiovascular health
February 17th 2025A new study finds that children born to mothers with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy or gestational diabetes are at a higher risk of developing cardiovascular health issues by ages 10 to 14 years.
Read More
