Aims

Placental tissues from patients with preeclampsia (PE) and in the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced PE-like model were used to investigate the implication of placental inflammation and apoptosis in PE. Whether the beneficial effects of nicotine are related to inhibition of placental inflammation and apoptosis in the PE-like model were investigated.

Main methods

Placental apoptosis was detected in PE patients and the PE-like rat model by TUNEL staining. Changes in the number of CD68⁺ macrophages in placental tissues from PE patients were detected by immunofluorescent staining. The mRNA expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin (IL-1β), MCP-1, and proteins involved in extrinsic or intrinsic apoptosis signaling in the PE-like model was determined by qRT-PCR; immunofluorescent staining was used to detect the expression of TNF-α receptor (TNFR1), MCP-1 and apoptosis-related proteins.

Key findings

Placental apoptosis was increased in both PE patients and the PE-like model, more macrophages infiltrated into placenta in PE patients. A significant upregulation in mRNA expression of TNF-α, IL-1β, MCP-1, and caspase 3, caspase 8, caspase 9 was found in the PE-like rats compared to the control animals, the immunoreactivity of placental MCP-1, TNFR1, and apoptosis-related proteins (caspase 3, caspase 8, caspase 9, Bax) was also enhanced; nicotine treatment significantly reversed those changes.

Significance

Our data suggests that the protective effects of nicotine are associated with inhibiting placenta inflammation and apoptosis, and nicotine might be a potentially therapeutic candidate for preventing preeclampsia.

中文翻译：

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尼古丁对子痫前期样动物胎盘炎症和凋亡的影响。

目的

以子痫前期（PE）和脂多糖（LPS）诱导的PE样模型中的胎盘组织用于研究胎盘炎症和凋亡在PE中的意义。研究了PE样模型中尼古丁的有益作用是否与胎盘炎症抑制和细胞凋亡有关。

主要方法

通过TUNEL染色在PE患者和PE样大鼠模型中检测到胎盘凋亡。通过免疫荧光染色检测PE患者胎盘组织中CD68 ⁺巨噬细胞数量的变化。用qRT-RT法测定PE样模型中促炎细胞因子肿瘤坏死因子α（TNF-α），白介素（IL-1β），MCP-1和参与外在或内在凋亡信号的蛋白质的mRNA表达。 PCR; 免疫荧光染色用于检测TNF-α受体（TNFR1），MCP-1和凋亡相关蛋白的表达。

主要发现

PE患者和PE样模型均增加了胎盘凋亡，PE患者中有更多的巨噬细胞浸入胎盘。与对照组相比，PE类大鼠的TNF-α，IL-1β，MCP-1和caspase 3，caspase 8，caspase 9的mRNA表达显着上调，胎盘MCP-1， TNFR1和凋亡相关蛋白（胱天蛋白酶3，胱天蛋白酶8，胱天蛋白酶9，Bax）也得到增强。尼古丁治疗显着逆转了这些变化。

意义

我们的数据表明，尼古丁的保护作用与抑制胎盘炎症和凋亡有关，尼古丁可能是预防先兆子痫的潜在治疗候选物。