Cardiac Mitochondrial Metabolism During Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period

Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2024 Mar 29. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00127.2024. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThe goal of the present study was to characterize changes in mitochondrial respiration in the maternal heart during pregnancy and after birth. Timed pregnancy studies were performed in 12-week-old female FVB/NJ mice, and cardiac mitochondria were isolated from the following groups of mice: non-pregnant (NP), mid-pregnancy (MP), late-pregnancy (LP), and 1-week post-birth (PB). Similar to our previous studies, we observed increased heart size during all stages of pregnancy (e.g., MP and LP) and post-birth (e.g., PB) compared with NP mice. Differential cardiac gene and protein expression analyses revealed changes in several mitochondrial transcripts at LP and PB, including several mitochondrial complex subunits and members of the Slc family, important for mitochondrial substrate transport. Respirometry revealed that pyruvate- and glutamate-supported state 3 respiration was significantly higher in PB versus LP mitochondria, with respiratory control ratio (RCR) values higher in PB mitochondria. In addition, we found that PB mitochondria respired more avidly when given 3-hydroxybutyrate (3-OHB) than mitochondria from NP, MP, and LP hearts, with no differences in RCR. These increases in respiration in PB hearts occurred independent of changes in mitochondrial yield, but were associated with higher abundance of 3-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase 1. Collectively, these findings s...
Source: American Journal of Physiology. Heart and Circulatory Physiology - Category: Physiology Authors: Source Type: research