自噬在胎儿生长发育及妊娠并发症中的作用

The Role of Autophagy in Fetal Growth Development and Pregnancy Complications

自噬是一种高度保守的胞内物质清除机制,具有维持细胞内稳态、促进代谢循环、维持能量平衡的作用,同时也是一个维系细胞生存的自稳定过程。研究表明自噬在妊娠滋养细胞分化、发育、侵入及重塑子宫螺旋动脉的过程中具有重要作用,其通过清除受损线粒体和内质网来维持细胞稳态,使妊娠得以正常维持。自噬贯穿于胎儿生长发育全过程,相关因子如Beclin-1、损伤调控自噬因子和微管蛋白轻链3B在胎盘中持续表达且在妊娠晚期仍处于较高水平。研究发现自噬功能异常与子痫前期、胎儿生长受限和早产等妊娠并发症密切相关,其中线粒体自噬发挥重要作用。

Autophagy is a highly conserved intracellular material removal mechanism,which has the function of maintaining cell homeostasis and promoting metabolic recycling and maintaining energy balance.Autophagy is as well a selfstabilizing process which facilitates cell survival.Studies have demonstrated that autophagy plays an important role in the differentiation,development,invasion of trophoblast and the process of maternal spiral artery recasting.Autophagy sustains pregnancy by removing damaged mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum to maintain cellular homeostasis.Autophagy runs through the whole process of fetal growth and development.Associated factors such as Beclin-1,damage-regulated autophagy modulator,microtubule-associated protein light chain 3B and so on,are continuously expressed in the placenta during the whole gestation period and remain at a relatively high level in the third trimester.Studies have shown that the dysfunction of autophagy is tightly related to pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia,fetal growth restriction and premature delivery,in which mitochondrial autophagy plays an important role.