Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Nov 15, 2024; 15(11): 2203-2219
Published online Nov 15, 2024. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v15.i11.2203
Effect of exercise during pregnancy on offspring development through ameliorating high glucose and hypoxia in gestational diabetes mellitus
Yi-Bo Tang, Le-Sha Wang, Yi-Hui Wu, Li-Xia Zhang, Lu-Yao Hu, Qi Wu, Meng-Lin Zhou, Zhao-Xia Liang
Yi-Bo Tang, Yi-Hui Wu, Li-Xia Zhang, Lu-Yao Hu, Qi Wu, Meng-Lin Zhou, Zhao-Xia Liang, Department of Obstetrics, Women's Hospital School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310006, Zhejiang Province, China
Le-Sha Wang, Department of Obstetrics, Shaoxing People’s Hospital, Shaoxing 312000, Zhejiang Province, China
Co-first authors: Yi-Bo Tang and Le-Sha Wang.
Author contributions: Tang YB and Wang LS contributed to the design and drafting of the work; Wu YH and Zhang LX contributed to the acquisition and analysis of data; Hu LY, Wu Q and Zhou ML contributed to the revision of the paper; Liang ZX contributed to the study conception; and all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by Key R and D Program of Zhejiang Province, No. 2022C03058; Medical and Health Technology Program of Zhejiang Province, No. WKJ-ZJ-2324; and 4+X Clinical Research Project of Women's Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, No. ZDFY2022-4XB101.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Ethics committee of Women’s Hospital School of Medicine (No. IRB-20200273), and all participants gave their informed consent. The use of human tissue samples and data were performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: All animal experiments were approved by Laboratory Animal Welfare and Ethics Committee of Zhejiang University (AP code: ZJU20230074). All methods were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulation.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors do not disclosure any conflict interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Zhao-Xia Liang, PhD, Chief Physician, Doctor, Researcher, Department of Obstetrics, Women's Hospital School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, No. 1 Xueshi Road, Hangzhou 310006, Zhejiang Province, China. xiaozaizai@zju.edu.cn
Received: March 3, 2024
Revised: September 3, 2024
Accepted: September 18, 2024
Published online: November 15, 2024
Processing time: 227 Days and 5.4 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) women require prenatal care to minimize short- and long-term complications. The mechanism by which exercise during pregnancy affects organ development and whether glucose transporter (GLUT) 1 plays a role in GDM offspring organ development remains unknown.

AIM

To determine the effect of exercise during pregnancy on the cardiac, hepatic and renal development of GDM mother’s offspring.

METHODS

Placenta samples were collected from humans and mice. GDM mouse models were created using streptozotocin along with a GDM with exercise group. The hearts, livers and kidneys of 3- and 8-week-old offspring were collected for body composition analysis and staining. The effects of high glucose levels and hypoxia were investigated using HTR8/SVneo. Transwell and wound-healing assays were performed to assess cell migration. Immunofluorescence accompanied with TUNEL and Ki67 staining was used to explore apoptosis and proliferation.

RESULTS

Exercise during pregnancy downregulated the GLUT1 and hypoxia inducible factor-1α expression in placenta from individuals with GDM. Cobalt chloride-induced hypoxia and high glucose levels also significantly decreased migration and apoptosis of HTR8/SVneo cells. In addition, exercise reduced inflammatory cell infiltration in the liver and decreased the tubular vacuolar area in the kidneys of offspring.

CONCLUSION

GDM affects the growth and development of organs in offspring. Exercise during pregnancy can reverse adverse effects of GDM on the development of the heart, liver, and kidney in offspring.

Keywords: Gestational diabetes mellitus; Exercise; Glucose transporter 1; Hypoxia inducible factor-1α; Placenta; Offspring

Core Tip: We established a mouse model of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and an exercise model during pregnancy. We discussed placental glucose transporter (GLUT) 1 expression and the hypoxic microenvironment, and the correlation between them. We also investigated organ development in the heart, liver, and kidney of the offspring. Our findings suggest that exercise during pregnancy is beneficial for organ development in the offspring of GDM. This benefit may be realized by modulating GLUT 1 expression and improving placental hypoxia. We hope that this study will emphasize the importance of exercise during pregnancy in women with GDM to improve its effects on organ development in the offspring.