Influence of placental exosomes from early onset preeclampsia women umbilical cord plasma on human umbilical vein endothelial cells

Mengqi Gu; Fengyuan Zhang; Xiaotong Jiang; Pengzheng Chen; Shuting Wan; Qingfeng Lv; Yuan Lu; Qian Zhou; Yanyun Wang; Lei Li

doi:10.3389/fcvm.2022.1061340

Influence of placental exosomes from early onset preeclampsia women umbilical cord plasma on human umbilical vein endothelial cells

Front Cardiovasc Med. 2022 Dec 23:9:1061340. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2022.1061340. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Mengqi Gu¹, Fengyuan Zhang², Xiaotong Jiang¹, Pengzheng Chen¹, Shuting Wan¹, Qingfeng Lv², Yuan Lu¹, Qian Zhou³, Yanyun Wang^{1

2

4}, Lei Li^{1

2

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China.
² Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, Shandong, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Birth Regulation and Control Technology of National Health and Family Planning Commission of China, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Shandong Province, Jinan, China.
⁴ The Laboratory of Medical Science and Technology Innovation Center (Institute of Translational Medicine), Shandong First Medical University (Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences) of China, Jinan, China.

Abstract

Background: Early onset preeclampsia (EOSP, PE) is characterized by hypertension, proteinuria, and endothelial dysfunction. Oxidative stress-induced trophoblast dysfunction is a major pathology in PE. Placental exosomes are extracellular vesicles that are involved in "mother-placenta-foetal communication" and can regulate the biological functions of endothelial cells. Our study was designed to evaluate placental exosomes effects on endothelial cells.

Methods: Umbilical cord blood from normal pregnant women and patients with PE were collected. A hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) model in human first trimester extravillous trophoblast cell (HTR8/SVneo) line to simulate the PE model of oxidative stress in vitro. Then, placental exosomes (i.e., NO-exo, H/R-exo, N-exo, and PE-exo) were extracted and identified. Finally, the effects of placental exosomes on the biological functions of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were further evaluated by performing a series of experiments.

Results: Placental exosomes had a double-membrane cup structure with diameters of 30-150 nm, and there was no obvious difference in placental exosomes. Compared with NO-exo and N-exo, H/R-exo and PE-exo inhibited HUVECs proliferation, tube formation and migration, increased permeability and apoptosis in vitro.

Conclusion: We hypothesize that H/R-exo and PE-exo impair vessel development by disrupted biological functions in endothelial cells, which may result in vascular disorders in offspring.

Keywords: HUVECs; early onset preeclampsia; hypoxia/reoxygenation; permeability of the endothelial monolayer; placental exosomes; pregnancy.