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Vanderplow AM, Kermath BA, Bernhardt CR, Gums KT, Seablom EN, Radcliff AB, Ewald AC, Jones MV, Baker TL, Watters JJ, Cahill ME. A feature of maternal sleep apnea during gestation causes autism-relevant neuronal and behavioral phenotypes in offspring. PLoS Biol 2022; 20:e3001502. [PMID: 35113852 PMCID: PMC8812875 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001502] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2021] [Accepted: 11/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Mounting epidemiologic and scientific evidence indicates that many psychiatric disorders originate from a complex interplay between genetics and early life experiences, particularly in the womb. Despite decades of research, our understanding of the precise prenatal and perinatal experiences that increase susceptibility to neurodevelopmental disorders remains incomplete. Sleep apnea (SA) is increasingly common during pregnancy and is characterized by recurrent partial or complete cessations in breathing during sleep. SA causes pathological drops in blood oxygen levels (intermittent hypoxia, IH), often hundreds of times each night. Although SA is known to cause adverse pregnancy and neonatal outcomes, the long-term consequences of maternal SA during pregnancy on brain-based behavioral outcomes and associated neuronal functioning in the offspring remain unknown. We developed a rat model of maternal SA during pregnancy by exposing dams to IH, a hallmark feature of SA, during gestational days 10 to 21 and investigated the consequences on the offspring's forebrain synaptic structure, synaptic function, and behavioral phenotypes across multiples stages of development. Our findings represent a rare example of prenatal factors causing sexually dimorphic behavioral phenotypes associated with excessive (rather than reduced) synapse numbers and implicate hyperactivity of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway in contributing to the behavioral aberrations. These findings have implications for neuropsychiatric disorders typified by superfluous synapse maintenance that are believed to result, at least in part, from largely unknown insults to the maternal environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda M. Vanderplow
- Department of Comparative Biosciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | - Bailey A. Kermath
- Department of Comparative Biosciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | - Cassandra R. Bernhardt
- Department of Comparative Biosciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | - Kimberly T. Gums
- Department of Comparative Biosciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | - Erin N. Seablom
- Department of Comparative Biosciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | - Abigail B. Radcliff
- Department of Comparative Biosciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | - Andrea C. Ewald
- Department of Comparative Biosciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | - Mathew V. Jones
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | - Tracy L. Baker
- Department of Comparative Biosciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | - Jyoti J. Watters
- Department of Comparative Biosciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | - Michael E. Cahill
- Department of Comparative Biosciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
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Vanderplow AM, Kermath BA, Ewald AC, Gums KT, Seablom EN, Baker TL, Watters JJ, Cahill ME. Maternal sleep disordered breathing during pregnancy as a cause of autism relevant neuronal and behavioral aberrations in the offspring. FASEB J 2020. [DOI: 10.1096/fasebj.2020.34.s1.02352] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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