Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on August 6, 2004
Human Reproduction 2004 19(11):2460-2464; doi:10.1093/humrep/deh445
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fetal cell-free DNA circulates in the plasma of pregnant mice: relevance for animal models of fetomaternal trafficking
Division of Genetics, Departments of Pediatrics and Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tufts–New England Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Division of Genetics, Department of Pediatrics, Tufts–New England Medical Center, Box 394, 750 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02111, USA. Email: kjohnson{at}tufts-nemc.org
BACKGROUND: Cell-free fetal DNA (fDNA) can be detected in maternal plasma throughout human pregnancy and is rapidly cleared after delivery. fDNA measurement has clinical application in many complications of pregnancy. Our aim was to determine if fDNA could be detected in maternal plasma during pregnancy in a mouse model system. We then compared the levels of fDNA during pregnancies in which the mother and fetus were either congenic or allogenic. METHODS: C57BL/6J (H-2b) or DBA/2J (H-2d) wild-type female mice were mated to C57BL/6J mice transgenic for the enhanced green fluorescent protein (gfp) and sacrificed while pregnant. C57BL/6J female mice that had previously given birth to three to six litters after mating with transgenic males were sacrificed after delivery. We used real-time quantitative PCR amplification to detect and measure gfp sequences in maternal plasma. RESULTS: fDNA was consistently detected in maternal plasma during pregnancy and was always absent after delivery [median 211 genome equivalents (GE)/ml vs 0 GE/ml, respectively, P=0.0001]. The level of fDNA was higher in allogenic matings compared to congenic matings (median 167 GE/ml/GFP + fetus vs 81 GE/ml/GFP + fetus, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: fDNA sequences can be reliably detected in maternal plasma during murine pregnancy. Our data lends further support to the use of nonhuman species to investigate the mechanisms involved in fetomaternal trafficking.
Key words: cell-free nucleic acids/fetomaternal trafficking/green fluorescent protein/mouse/pregnancy
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  Y. Fujiki, K. L. Johnson, H. Tighiouart, I. Peter, and D. W. Bianchi Fetomaternal Trafficking in the Mouse Increases as Delivery Approaches and Is Highest in the Maternal Lung Biol Reprod, November 1, 2008; 79(5): 841 - 848. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. Khosrotehrani, M. Leduc, V. Bachy, S. N. Huu, M. Oster, A. Abbas, S. Uzan, and S. Aractingi Pregnancy Allows the Transfer and Differentiation of Fetal Lymphoid Progenitors into Functional T and B Cells in Mothers J. Immunol., January 15, 2008; 180(2): 889 - 897. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. Khosrotehrani, R.R. Reyes, K.L. Johnson, R.B. Freeman, R.N. Salomon, I. Peter, H. Stroh, S. Guegan, and D.W. Bianchi Fetal cells participate over time in the response to specific types of murine maternal hepatic injury Hum. Reprod., March 1, 2007; 22(3): 654 - 661. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. Nguyen Huu, M. Oster, S. Uzan, F. Chareyre, S. Aractingi, and K. Khosrotehrani Maternal neoangiogenesis during pregnancy partly derives from fetal endothelial progenitor cells PNAS, February 6, 2007; 104(6): 1871 - 1876. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. Khosrotehrani and D. W. Bianchi Multi-lineage potential of fetal cells in maternal tissue: a legacy in reverse J. Cell Sci., April 15, 2005; 118(8): 1559 - 1563. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|