Gestational diabetes alters the function of fetal precursor cells

CIBERDEM researchers and the Pere Virgili Institute demonstrate that the metabolic alterations caused by diabetes during pregnancy modify the plasticity of the amniotic membrane stem cells and that these alterations are related to metabolic parameters of the baby.

Identifying how gestational diabetes affects the functionality of the placenta is key to advancing in the understanding of this disease and how it can affect the development of the fetus and its health in adult life.Along these lines, researchers from the CIBER of diabetes and associated metabolic diseases (CIBERDEM) and the Institutation d'Estion Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV) have shown for the first time that the metabolic alterations caused by gestational diabetes affect the functionality of the stem cellsof amniotic membrane, cells of fetal origin and with an important immune function, and that these alterations are related to the metabolic parameters of the baby, indicating a greater predisposition to develop diseases in the future.

"Amniotic membrane stem cells could constitute a tool to study fetal cells indirectly, opening the possibility to new research in this field," says Sonia Fernández-Veedo
Gestational diabetes mellitus (DMG) is a type of diabetes that affects between 6-15% of all pregnancies and that relates to high risk for the baby to overweight and obesity, type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular diseases during development during developmentof his adult life.

Population studies suggest that the children of mothers who develop DMG can present up to twice the chances of developing overweight and between 4 and 8 times more risk of developing type 2 diabetes throughout their lives.

The placenta is the organ responsible for providing oxygen and nutrients to the fetus and its functionality is essential for proper development of it.During gestational diabetes, the placenta suffers alterations that modify its function, being able to compromise the baby's health.

In the placenta they reside multiple cell types of fetal origin in charge that all biological processes function properly.One of the most important are the amniotic mesenchymal stem cells, (AMSC), progenitor cells that carry out replacement processes and regulation of the immune system.

In this new research, published by Stem Cells Translational Medicine, cyberdem researchers at the IISPV focused on determining whether gestational diabetes could leave a mark on the fetal precursors of the amniotic membrane, specifically on AMSC, and if thisIt could be related to adverse results in the offspring.To do this, this study, conducted at the University Hospital of Tarragona Joan XXIII carried out a recruitment and monitoring of a total of 18 pregnant women scheduled to perform elective caesarean section (9 with DMG and 9 with normal glucose tolerance).

The results obtained demonstrated that the menenquimal stem cells of women with gestational diabetes have a lower capacity for proliferation and differentiate in other cell types.Likewise, the study determined that these cells have a more inflammatory profile and a greater capacity to invade other tissues and recruit the immune system, favoring an inflammatory reaction.

Metabolic parameters found in umbilical cord blood, indicating a potential relationship between the biological characteristics of stem cells and susceptibility to develop metabolic diseases in the fetus
«Our results suggest that gestational diabetes modifies the plasticity of fetal precursor cells in the amniotic membrane.We show that the DMG results in a deregulation of genes involved in inflammation in AMSC, which have been associated with the development of insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, obesity and atherosclerosis, ”explain Francisco Algaba-Chueca and Sonia Fernández-Veledo, first and last signatory of the article, respectively.

"In addition, they report that these alterations are associated with metabolic parameters found in umbilical cord blood, indicating a potential relationship between the biological characteristics of stem cells and susceptibility to develop metabolic diseases in the fetus," they add.

These data suggest that amniotic membrane stem cells "could constitute a tool to study fetus cells indirectly, opening the possibility to more predictive and/or diagnostic research of gestational diabetes," the researchers value."Even so, additional studies are required to finish understanding the possible implications of alterations in stem cells on the risk of developing metabolic complications for the baby," they point out.

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