Prenatal vitamin C deficiency results in differential levels of oxidative stress during late gestation in foetal guinea pig brains

Abstract

Antioxidant defences are comparatively low during foetal development making the brain particularly susceptible to oxidative stress during antioxidant deficiencies. The brain is one of the organs containing the highest concentration of vitamin C (VitC) and VitC deficiency during foetal development may place the brain at risk of redox status imbalance. In the present study, we investigated the developmental pattern and effect of VitC deficiency on antioxidants, vitamin E and superoxide dismutase (SOD), assessed oxidative damage by measuring malondialdehyde (MDA), hydroxynonenal (HNE) and nitrotyrosine (NT) and analysed gene and protein expression of apoptosis marker caspase-3 in the guinea pig foetal brain at two gestational (GD) time points, GD 45/pre-term and GD 56/near term following either a VitC sufficient (CTRL) or deficient (DEF) maternal dietary regime. We show that except for SOD, antioxidants and oxidative damage markers are differentially expressed between the two GDs, with high VitC (p<0.0001), NT modified proteins (p<0.0001) and active caspase-3 levels (p<0.05) at pre-term and high vitamin E levels (p<0.0001), HNE (p<0.0001) and MDA (p<0.0001) at near term. VitC deficiency significantly increased SOD activity (p<0.0001) compared to CTRLs at both GDs indicating a compensatory response, however, low levels of VitC significantly elevated MDA levels (p<0.05) in DEF at near term. Our results show a differential regulation of the investigated markers during late gestation and suggest that immature brains are susceptible to oxidative stress due to prenatal vitC deficiency in spite of an induction of protective adaptation mechanisms.

Metabolic processes in the organism of animals under the action of plant extract

“…The emergence and spread of excitation, muscle contraction, oxygen transport, blood properties, immune protection, the transmission of hereditary information, etc., is associated with proteins. In addition, proteins are a source of energy (Oltjen et al, 2013).…”

“…Despite the large amount of work on the subject, there is a need for additional experimental data to expand our knowledge about the mechanisms of action of antioxidants, especially products of natural origin. Therefore, the search for new drugs for stress correction, as well as the comprehensive use of antioxidants and products of natural origin as stress correctors, has of great practical importance (Mizutani & Masaki, 2014;Paidi et al, 2014;Ahn, 2017).…”

Simultaneous quantification of monoamine neurotransmitters and their biogenic metabolites intracellularly and extracellularly in primary neuronal cell cultures and in sub-regions of guinea pig brain

“…Adult guinea pigs (Charles River laboratories, Kiessleg, Germany) were sacrificed according to previously described procedures [23]. In short, dams were pre-anesthetized with butorphanol (10mg/ml, Torbugesic Vet, Orion Pharma Animal Health, Nivå, Denmark) and placed on isoflurane inhalation anaesthesia (Isoba Vet, Intervet…”

“…Foetuses were delivered by caesarean section as previously described [23]. Immediately following delivery, pups were decapitated and the brain excised and subsequently Kinetex C 18 column (Phenomenex) showed the most promising chromatograms.…”

Poor Vitamin C Status Late in Pregnancy Is Associated with Increased Risk of Complications in Type 1 Diabetic Women: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Intrauterine growth retardation was related to insufficient vitC status in guinea pigs [10]. More recently, experimental reports from animal studies demonstrated that CNS development in particular requires high amounts of vitC and may be impaired by an inadequate maternal supply [12,13,14,15]. …”