Expression of insulin-like growth factor in the placenta of intrauterine growth-retarded human fetuses

Placental expression of insulin-like growth factor-I, fibroblast growth factor-basic and neural cell adhesion molecule in pregnancies with small for gestational age fetuses

“…The results of our previous study were in accordance with the findings of Abu Amero (1998) as a distinct increase in IGF-I immunoreactive cells and intensity in decidua and umbilical veins of IUGR placentae was demonstrated. 3 Based on our findings in this study, we conclude that increased immunoreactivity in placental chorionic villi of the SGA subjects may be due to a positive feedback mechanism by means of a paracrine/autocrine function in order to restore the impaired fetal growth. The other studies with different results showed that the release of placental IGF-I was obviously abnormal in certain cases of IUGR and might reflect deficiency of basal IGF-I production and aberrant regulation.…”

“…[1][2][3] Impaired uteroplacental perfusion leading to inadequate placental function may be responsible of restricted fetal growth. 4 Several molecules are involved in cellular growth and differentiation during embryogenesis and serve as modulators of placental function.…”

“…4 Several molecules are involved in cellular growth and differentiation during embryogenesis and serve as modulators of placental function. [3][4][5][6] Altered gene expression and proteolytic release from extracellular matrix provide those local growth factors which are shown to be clearly associated with regular progression of normal embryogenesis. 1 The trophic effects of insulin exhibiting enhanced somatic fetal growth occur through some interactive mechanisms.…”

Changes in interleukin-6 and IGF system and their relationships in placenta and cord blood in newborns with fetal growth restriction compared with controls

“…IGF-I gene expression was high in the placenta, but the corresponding protein was undetectable in almost all cases. Few earlier studies have shown IGF-I secretion by the human placenta, only describing very low concentrations using organ cultures (26) or immunostaining (8,27). All other publications have studied IGF-I gene expression mainly using in situ hybridization (9,11).…”

Recent Insights into the Role of the Insulin-Like Growth Factor Axis in Preeclampsia

“…However, other research groups do not lend support to a relationship between total IGF-I and birth weight [Chellakooty et al, 2003]. Surprisingly, increased transcription of IGF-I and IGF-II not essentially associated with a corresponding increase in proteins levels have also been noted in IUGR pregnancies interpreted as a compensatory attempt against the inhibitory effect of either the enhanced level of IGFBPs and/or number of IGF2R or a response to impaired growth [Dalcik et al, 2001;Sheikh et al, 2001]. Alternatively, maternal diabetes seems to result in inverse changes of circulating fetal IGF-I and IGFBP-1 at birth leading to the proposal that a decrease in IGFBP-1 and to a lesser extent an increase in IGFs of cord blood samples may represent an important mechanism that contributes to macrosomia in these pregnancies [Lindsay et al, 2007].…”