Background: In several developing industrial countries, the incidence of obesity among populations is spreading quickly and dramatically; also, the frequency of maternal obesity is in continuous elevation, which represents a considerable public health problem. Maternal hyperglycemia is a common gestational risk factor for the fetus. Several studies proposed that maternal DM and obesity lead to intrauterine impacts which induce changes in the fetal myocardium, and the pre-pregnancy obesity and diabetes are accompanied with development of cardiovascular alterations in the offspring and subsequent pathological changes in their early life. The aim of this study is to assess the cardiac function in fetuses of obese pregnant women (FOW) and fetuses of diabetic women (FDW) in comparison with fetuses of normal pregnant women (FNW) using tissue Doppler imaging. Results: There was impairment in systolic and diastolic cardiac function in both fetuses of obese and diabetic women with decreased global longitudinal strain tissue Doppler velocities at 30 weeks of gestation compared to fetuses of normal women. Conclusion: Imaging of the fetus of pregnant women by Echo Doppler at about 30 weeks of gestations showed a reduced cardiac function of fetuses of obese and diabetic women matched with fetuses of normal BMI women. Our finding proposed that early subclinical alterations in the fetal cardiac output can arise from maternal obesity alone. This explains the predilection of children of obese mothers at advanced ages to cardiovascular disorder.

A prevalent clinical problem including sepsis, shock, necrotizing enterocolitis, and mesenteric thrombosis is intestinal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Humanin (HN), a recently identified mitochondrial polypeptide, exhibits antioxidative and antiapoptotic properties. This work aimed to study the role of HN in a model of experimental intestinal I/R injury and its effect on associated dysmotility. A total of 36 male adult albino rats were allocated into 3 equal groups. Sham group: merely a laparotomy was done. I/R group: for 1 h, clamping of the superior mesenteric artery was done, and then reperfusion was allowed for 2 h later. HN-I/R group: rats underwent ischemia and reperfusion, and 30 min before the reperfusion, they received an intraperitoneal injection of 252 μg/kg of HN. Small intestinal motility was evaluated, and jejunal samples were got for biochemical and histological analysis. I/R group showed elevation of intestinal NO, MDA, TNF- α, and IL-6 and decline of GPx and SOD levels. Furthermore, histologically, there were destructed jejunal villi especially their tips and increased tissue expression of caspase-3 and i-NOS, in addition to reduced small intestinal motility. Compared to I/R group, HN-I/R group exhibited decrease intestinal levels of NO, MDA, TNF- α, and IL-6 and increase GPx and SOD. Moreover, there was noticeable improvement of the histopathologic features and decreased caspase-3 and iNOS immunoreactivity, beside enhanced small intestinal motility. HN alleviates inflammation, apoptosis, and intestinal dysmotility encouraged by I/R. Additionally, I/R-induced apoptosis and motility alterations depend partly on the production of nitric oxide.

Background: Preeclampsia is a syndrome associated with pregnancy and characterized by new onset hypertension and proteinuria that might result from hypoxic placenta which secretes pathogenic factors that enter the maternal blood stream and result in endothelial dysfunction. Irisin is a myokine that improves endothelial dysfunction and has anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Therefore, the current study aims to explore the possible effects of irisin on a model of preeclampsia induced experimentally in adult female albino rats and to explain the possible underlying mechanisms. Material and Methods: 24 adult female albino rats were divided into three groups: Group I (control pregnant rats): That were injected daily with saline solution from 7 th day to 14th day of gestation, Group II (preeclamptic rats): In which pregnant rats were injected daily with L-NAME starting from the 7t h day to 14th day of gestation, and Group III (irisintreated preeclamptic rats): In which L-NAME-induced preeclamptic rats were treated daily with intravenous irisin; 2 µg/kg; from 10t h day to 19t h day of gestation. In all groups, systolic and diastolic Blood Pressure (BP), Total Urinary Proteins/24 hour (TUP), number of living pups and serum Endothelin-1 (ET-1), Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Nitric Oxide (NO), Placental Growth Factor (PGF), insulin, glucose, Super Oxide Dismutase (SOD), Malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured and HOMA-IR was calculated. Results: Irisin-treated preeclamptic rats showed significant decrease in systoilic BP, diastolic BP, TUP, ET-1, IL-6, HOMA-IR, MDA and significant increase in the number of living pups, NO, PGF, SOD in comparison to preeclamptic rats. Conclusion: Irisin may be a promising molecule for treatment of vascular complications of preeclampsia, as manifested by the improvement of hypertension and proteinuria in preeclamptic rats, through several mechanisms that may involve decreasing the oxidative stress, IL-6, ET-1 and insulin resistance or increasing the levels of PGF and NO.

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