Placenta-Brain Communication in Normal and Pathological Pregnancies
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pathology, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 312
Special Issue Editor
Interests: placenta; blood-brain barrier; brain endothelial cells; placenta-brain communication; neurodevelopment; preeclampsia
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
A healthy pregnancy is characterized by significant physiological changes in practically all organ systems to maintain the mother's well-being and nurture the developing fetus. During pregnancy, several adaptive changes are well recognized in the cardiovascular, endocrine, respiratory, digestive, and skeletal systems. However, significantly less scientific evidence is available about the impact of the pregnancy itself on the brain and maternal cognitive function, despite subjective cognitive impairment during pregnancy having been described for decades.
The brain is the most energetically expensive organ in vertebrates since it has been estimated to account for between 20 and 25% of the resting metabolic rate in adult primates. This metabolic demand is affected in pregnancy, which may constitute an energetic trade-off resulting in an energy-allocation dilemma for supplying the maternal brain and the developing fetus. Considering this last hypothesis, pregnancies affected by weight gain and fat deposition alterations may generate a metabolic disequilibrium, impairing brain function. These conditions may include women with low access to nutrients (i.e., in low-income countries or starvation time); excessive access to nutrients (i.e., maternal obesity or glucose metabolism alterations including diabesity); or in the condition in which the placenta can consume more (i.e., large placentas observed in gestational diabetes) or less glucose (i.e., small placentas observed in preeclampsia or growth restriction), among others.
Very little is known about impaired placental function with structural and functional cerebral abnormalities in women with pathological pregnancies, including preeclampsia. Although, preeclampsia is associated with cerebrovascular alterations such as impaired cerebral autoregulation, disruption of the blood-brain barrier, and increased markers of neuroinflammation. Whether the placenta is required for these alterations is not completely clear.
In addition, the developing fetus is exposed to the above insults. Clinical studies have found that children born from women with preeclampsia exhibit morphological changes in some brain regions and cognitive alterations. Whether these alterations are associated with preeclampsia or directed by co-morbidities present in these pathological pregnancies, such as preterm delivery or fetal growth restriction is not completely clear. In addition, how potential harmful elements released from the hypoxic/ischemic placenta may also affect fetal/newborn neurodevelopment is intriguing.
In this special issue of the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, we aim to initiate an international discussion about the potential mechanisms of placenta-brain communication in normal and pathological pregnancies. Moreover, these mechanisms will help us understand the physiopathology of functional and structural alterations observed in mothers and their children exposed to pathological pregnancies, such as preeclampsia. In addition, we want to analyze methodological innovations that help us to understand better this placenta-brain communication.
I invite you to join us in this international effort.
Dr. Carlos Alonso Escudero
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- placenta-brain communication
- blood-brain barrier
- brain autoregulation
- neurodevelopment
- placenta
- preeclampsia and brain complications
- fetal growth restriction and brain complications
- gestational diabetes and brain complications
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