Abnormal Fetal Lung of Hoxa1^−/− Piglets Is Rescued by Maternal Feeding with All-Trans Retinoic Acid

Abstract

Neonatal Hoxa1−/− piglets were characterized by dyspnea owing to the Hoxa1 mutation, and maternal administration with ATRA alleviated the dyspnea of neonatal Hoxa1−/− piglets. The purpose of this experiment was to explore how maternal ATRA administration rescued the abnormal fetal lungs of Hoxa1−/− piglets. Samples of the lungs were collected from neonatal Hoxa1−/− and non-Hoxa1−/− piglets delivered by sows in the control group, and from neonatal Hoxa1−/− piglets born by sows administered with ATRA at 4 mg/kg body weight on dpc 12, 13, or 14, respectively. These were used for the analysis of ELISA, histological morphology, immunofluorescence staining, immunohistochemistry staining, and quantitative real-time PCR. The results indicate that the Hoxa1 mutation had adverse impacts on the development of the alveoli and pulmonary microvessels of Hoxa1−/− piglets. Maternal administration with ATRA at 4 mg/kg body weight on dpc 14 rescued the abnormal lung development of Hoxa1−/− piglets by increasing the IFN-γ concentration (p p p p p p p p p p p −/− fetal piglets.

Keywords

• Hoxa1 mutation
• alveoli
• pulmonary blood vessel
• maternal administration
• ATRA
• fetal piglets