Does Caesarean Section or Preterm Delivery Influence TGF-ß2 Concentrations in Human Colostrum?

Human colostrum (HC) is a rich source of immune mediators that play a role in immune defences of a newly born infant. The mediators include transforming growth factor ß (TGF-ß) which exists in three isoforms that regulate cellular homeostasis and inflammation, can induce or suppress immune responses, limit T helper 1 cells (Th1) reactions and stimulate secretory immunoglobulin A (IgA) production. Human milk TGF-ß also decreases apoptosis of intestinal cells and suppresses macrophage cytokine expression. The aim of the study was to determine the concentration of TGF-ß2 in HC obtained from the mothers who delivered vaginally (VD) or by caesarean section (CS), and to compare the concentrations in HC from mothers who delivered at term (TB) or preterm (PB). In this study, 56% of preterm pregnancies were delivered via CS. The concentrations of TGF-ß2 were measured in HC from 299 women who delivered in the 1st Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Medical University of Warsaw: 192 (VD), 107 (CS), 251 (TB), and 48 (PB). The colostrum samples were collected within 5 days post-partum. TGF-ß2 levels in HC were measured by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test with the Quantikine ELISA Kit-Human TGF-ß2 (cat.no. SB250). Statistical significance between groups was calculated by the Student t-test using StatSoft Statistica 13 software. The mean TGF-ß2 concentration in patients who delivered at term or preterm were comparable. The levels of TGF-ß2 in HC were higher after preterm than term being 4648 vs. 3899 ng/mL (p = 0.1244). The delivery via CS was associated with higher HC concentrations of TGF-ß2. The levels of TGF-ß2 were significantly higher in HC after CS than VD (7429 vs. 5240 ng/mL; p = 0.0017). The data from this study suggest: caesarean section was associated with increased levels of TGF-ß2 in HC. The increased levels of TGF-ß2 in HC of women who delivered prematurely require further research. Early and exclusive breast-feeding by mothers after caesarean section and premature births with colostrum containing high TGF-ß2 levels may prevent the negative impact of pathogens which often colonize the gastrointestinal tract and may reduce the risk of chronic diseases in this group of patients.

Mouse Proepicardium Exhibits a Sprouting Response to Exogenous Proangiogenic Growth Factors in vitro.

Angiogenesis contributes to the generation of the vascular bed but also affects the progression of many diseases, such as tumor growth. Many details of the molecular pathways controlling angiogenesis are still undefined due to the lack of appropriate models. We propose the proepicardial explant as a suitable model for studying certain aspects of angiogenesis. The proepicardium (PE) is a transient embryonic structure that contains a population of undifferentiated endothelial cells (ECs) forming a vascular net continuous with the sinus venosus. In this paper, we show that PE explants give rise to CD31-positive vascular sprouts in the presence of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and 2 isoforms of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A), i.e. VEGF-A120 and VEGF-A164. Vascular sprouts exhibit differences in number, length, thickness and the number of branches, depending on the combination of growth factors used. Moreover, the ECs of the sprouts express various levels of mRNA for Notch1 and its ligand Dll4. Additionally, stimulation with bFGF/VEGF-A164 upregulates the expression of Lyve-1 antigen in the ECs in the sprouts. In summary, we present a new model for angiogenesis studies involving mouse PE as a source of ECs. We believe that our model may act as a supplementary assay for angiogenesis studies along with the existing models.