High Glucose Level Induces Cardiovascular Dysplasia During Early Embryo Development.

The incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) has increased dramatically amongst multiethnic population. However, how gestational diabetes mellitus damages the developing embryo is still unknown. In this study, we used yolk sac membrane (YSM) model to investigate angiogenesis in the developing chick embryo. We determined that in the presence of high glucose, it retarded the growth and extension of the embryonic vascular plexus and it also reduced the density of the vasculature in yolk sac membrane model. Using the same strategy, we used the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) as a model to investigate the influence of high glucose on the vasculature. We established that high glucose inhibited development of the blood vessel plexus and the blood vessels formed had a narrower diameter than control vessels. Concurrent with the abnormal angiogenesis, we also examined how it impacted cardiogenesis. We determined the myocardium in the right ventricle and left atrium were significantly thicker than the control and also there was a reduction in glycogen content in cardiomyocytes. The high glucose also induced excess reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in the cardiomyocytes. We postulated that it was the excess reactive oxygen species that damaged the cardiomyocytes resulting in cardiac hyperplasia.

The impact of high-salt exposure on cardiovascular development in the early chick embryo.

In this study, we show that high-salt exposure dramatically increases chick mortality during embryo development. As embryonic mortality at early stages mainly results from defects in cardiovascular development, we focused on heart formation and angiogenesis. We found that high-salt exposure enhanced the risk of abnormal heart tube looping and blood congestion in the heart chamber. In the presence of high salt, both ventricular cell proliferation and apoptosis increased. The high osmolarity induced by high salt in the ventricular cardiomyocytes resulted in incomplete differentiation, which might be due to reduced expression of Nkx2.5 and GATA4. Blood vessel density and diameter were suppressed by exposure to high salt in both the yolk sac membrane (YSM) and chorioallantoic membrane models. In addition, high-salt-induced suppression of angiogenesis occurred even at the vasculogenesis stage, as blood island formation was also inhibited by high-salt exposure. At the same time, cell proliferation was repressed and cell apoptosis was enhanced by high-salt exposure in YSM tissue. Moreover, the reduction in expression of HIF2 and FGF2 genes might cause high-salt-suppressed angiogenesis. Interestingly, we show that high-salt exposure causes excess generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the heart and YSM tissues, which could be partially rescued through the addition of antioxidants. In total, our study suggests that excess generation of ROS might play an important role in high-salt-induced defects in heart and angiogenesis.