Background Human reproductive disorders consist of frequently occurring dysfunctions including a broad range of phenotypes affecting fertility and women’s health during pregnancy. Several female-related diseases have been associated with hypofertility/infertility phenotypes, such as recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL). Other occurring diseases may be life-threatening for the mother and foetus, such as preeclampsia (PE) and intra-uterine growth restriction (IUGR). FOXD1 was defined as a major molecule involved in embryo implantation in mice and humans by regulating endometrial/placental genes. FOXD1 mutations in human species have been functionally linked to RPL’s origin. Methods FOXD1 gene mutation screening, in 158 patients affected by PE, IUGR, RPL and repeated implantation failure (RIF), by direct sequencing and bioinformatics analysis. Plasmid constructs including FOXD1 mutations were used to perform in vitro gene reporter assays. Results Nine non-synonymous sequence variants were identified. Functional experiments revealed that p.His267Tyr and p.Arg57del led to disturbances of promoter transcriptional activity ( C3 and PlGF genes). The FOXD1 p.Ala356Gly and p.Ile364Met deleterious mutations (previously found in RPL patients) have been identified in the present work in women suffering PE and IUGR. Conclusions Our results argue in favour of FOXD1 mutations’ central role in RPL, RIF, IUGR and PE pathogenesis via C3 and PlGF regulation and they describe, for the first time, a functional link between FOXD1 and implantation/placental diseases. FOXD1 could therefore be used in clinical environments as a molecular biomarker for these diseases in the near future. Keywords Recurrent pregnancy loss, Preeclampsia, Intra-uterine growth restriction, FOXD1 Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s10020-019-0104-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus of aerogels fabricated from colloidal suspensions of chitosan/chondroitin sulfate nanocomplexes is analyzed. Upon freeze-drying the colloidal suspensions, the aerogels presented a porous structure made of microsheets and microfibers. The aerogels could, in addition, be loaded with antimicrobial agents. Loaded with the antibiotic erythromycin, the aerogels showed crystalline deposits, affecting the topography of the samples as well as their mechanical properties, showing a decrease on the apparent Young’s modulus and hardness at 40% deformation. Loaded with elephant garlic (Allium ampeloprasum L. var. ampeloprasum) extract, the aerogels showed texturization of the microsheets and microfibers, and the higher relative mass allowed an increase on the apparent Young’s modulus and hardness at 40% deformation with respect to pristine aerogels. Unloaded aerogels showed activity against Staphylococcus aureus, including a methicillin-resistant strain. The release of erythromycin from the aerogels to an agar environment is governed by equilibrium forces with the polysaccharides, which allow modulating the load of antibiotic and its concomitant diffusion from the material. The diffusion of the active components of the elephant garlic extract did not show a dependence on the polysaccharide content, revealing a week interaction. The elephant garlic extract resulted active against the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strain, while resistance was found for the antibiotic, revealing the therapeutic potential of the natural extract. The antimicrobial aerogels may be used for several therapeutic purposes, such as healing of infected chronic wounds.