| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
Rowett Research Institute, Aberdeen AB21 9SB, United Kingdom
Vitamin A is required during pregnancy for fetal lung development. These experiments monitored fetal lung morphology in normal and vitamin A-deficient rats. The expression of elastin and the growth arrest-specific gene 6 (gas6) in fetal and neonatal hearts and lungs was assessed by Northern blotting. In normal-fed rats, elastin and gas6 were expressed in the fetal lung and heart from day 19 of gestation up to day 2 postnatally. Maternal vitamin A deficiency altered fetal lung development. On day 20, the bronchial passageways were less developed and showed reduced staining for elastic fibers, and in the neonates, the relative air space and the size of the sacculi were reduced. In the fetal lung, the mRNAs for elastin and gas6 were reduced to 56 and 68% of the control values, respectively. In the fetal heart, the mRNA for elastin was reduced to 64% of the control value, whereas gas6 was increased twofold. In the neonate, there was no change in elastin expression in the lung or heart, but gas6 expression in the heart was increased twofold. These results suggest that, in the pregnant rat, vitamin A deficiency may retard fetal lung development or influence the differentiation of critical cell lines. The changes in elastin and gas6 expression may be used to identify the cell types affected.
elastin; growth arrest-specific gene 6
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  S. J. Cho, C. L. S. George, J. M. Snyder, and M. J. Acarregui Retinoic Acid and Erythropoietin Maintain Alveolar Development in Mice Treated with an Angiogenesis Inhibitor Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Biol., December 1, 2005; 33(6): 622 - 628. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 D. Downie, C. Antipatis, M. I. Delday, C. A. Maltin, and A. A. Sneddon Moderate maternal vitamin A deficiency alters myogenic regulatory protein expression and perinatal organ growth in the rat Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, January 1, 2005; 288(1): R73 - R79. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. C. Ross On the sources of retinoic acid in the lung: understanding the local conversion of retinol to retinoic acid Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol, February 1, 2004; 286(2): L247 - L248. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. H. Zile Function of Vitamin A in Vertebrate Embryonic Development J. Nutr., March 1, 2001; 131(3): 705 - 708. [Abstract] [Full Text]
|
|
|
|
|
|
R. C. Baybutt, L. Hu, and A. Molteni Vitamin A Deficiency Injures Lung and Liver Parenchyma and Impairs Function of Rat Type II Pneumocytes J. Nutr., May 1, 2000; 130(5): 1159 - 1165. [Abstract] [Full Text]
|
|
|
|
|
|
W. D. Rees, S. M. Hay, N. C. Fontanier-Razzaq, C. Antipatis, and D. N. Harries Expression of the Growth Arrest Genes (GAS and GADD) Changes during Organogenesis in the Rat Fetus J. Nutr., August 1, 1999; 129(8): 1532 - 1536. [Abstract] [Full Text]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| Visit Other APS Journals Online |
