Effect of a supplement on fetuses and establishment of a Predictive method

2011 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21590710
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Public health/Health science
• Research Institution: Keio University
• Principal Investigator: NAGAI Fusako 慶應義塾大学, 薬学部, 講師 (80118877)
• Project Period (FY): 2009 – 2011
• Keywords: サプリメント / 胎児肝 / 胎盤 / 薬物代謝酵素 / GSTP

Research Abstract

We administered quercetin to pregnant rats as a supplement to investigate its effect on the fetuses. As a result, the body weight of the fetuses decreased significantly. Glutachione S-transferaseP(GSTP) was abundantly expressed in the placenta as well as in the livers of rats and fetuses, while its expression was increased at both the protein and gene levels by quercetin. Further investigation of other metabolic enzymes revealed that GSTP was a useful marker. GSTP was also expressed in placenta-derived BeWo cells and its expression was similarly induced by incubation with quercetin. Our findings suggest that fetal effects may be readily predicted by using culture cells.