Poster 37
Presenter: Jasmin Kristianto
Wednesday, 3:00 – 5:00pm

Role of ECE1 in Mediating Maternal Cardiovascular Adaptation to Pregnancy

Jasmin Kristianto, Jing Wu, Shannon Phillips, Jacqueline Fisher, Suzanne Litscher, Han Syuk Cho, Robert Blank
University of Wisconsin Madison

Preeclampsia (~8% of all pregnancies), fetal loss (~15% of all pregnancies) and intrauterine growth restriction (~10% of newborns) are common pregnancy complications. Our laboratory has isolated a pleiotropic quantitative trait locus (QTL) in mouse chromosome 4 in recombinant congenic mice (HcB-8 and HcB-23) that harbors differentially expressed Ece1 (the gene encoding ECE1) alleles resulting in differences in reproductive performance. Recent data in 2 newly created congenic strains in which the QTL has been isolated are consistent with those obtained in HcB-8 and HcB-23. Long Chromosome 4 congenic (C4C-L) 17.5 dpc females have smaller litter sizes than C3H females (5 ± 1.5 v 7 ± 1.5, respectively, p = 0.034), but heavier placental weight relative to C3H 17.5 dpc females (0.126 ± 0.117 v 0.108 ± 0.103, respectively, p = 0.009) with no significant difference in 17.5 dpc embryos weight. These findings suggest the possible differences in placental efficiency between C4C-L and C3H mice. There are no significant differences observed between short chromosome 4 congenic (C4C) and C3H females. Doppler ultrasonography embryonic measurements of 17.5 dpc females show that C4C-L embryos have slower umbilical vein velocity than C3H embryos (145.6 ± 29.7 v 219.9 ± 40.3, respectively, p = 0.025). The embryonic heart rate is also slower in both C4C and C4C-L embryos relative to the C3H embryos (169 ± 33, 204 ± 41.8 v 315.8 ± 64.5, respectively, p = 0.016 (C4C v C3H), p = 0.027 (C4C-L v C3H). These data suggest that the chromosome 4 QTL mediates important differences in reproductive performance