Resource type
Thesis type
(Thesis) M.Sc.
Date created
2020-06-30
Authors/Contributors
Author: Virginkar, Natasha
Abstract
Inflammation during pregnancy can disturb maternal tolerance of the fetus. In mice, maternal high-fat diet (HFD) induces inflammation without pregnancy complications. I hypothesised that an additional inflammatory insult would exacerbate the immune response, leading to serious complications. To test this, I developed a HFD/LPS model, where female mice were fed a high-fat or low-fat diet prior to mating, and then treated with either bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS), an inflammatory stimulant, or a control. Diet, LPS or a diet-LPS interaction had no effect on fetal and placental parameters or maternal levels of TNF-α, an inflammatory marker (p>0.05). Furthermore, fetal and placental parameters did not differ between HFD mice that were prone or resistant to weight-gain. While diet or a diet-LPS interaction did not affect pregnancy, LPS treatment alone caused complete fetal loss in some mice (p
Document
Identifier
etd20941
Copyright statement
Copyright is held by the author.
Scholarly level
Supervisor or Senior Supervisor
Thesis advisor: Christians, Julian
Member of collection
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