Project 452402

During pregnancy, an organ called the placenta burrows into the mother's uterus to make sure the baby gets the food and oxygen it needs. If the placenta burrows too deep or too shallow, dangerous pregnancy problems can occur that make the mom and baby sick. We think that the mother's immune cells play an important role in controlling how deep the placenta burrows. We have recently found that a protein, called osteopontin, is highly produced by these immune cells, and we believe that this protein may have a key role in controlling how the placenta develops and how deep it burrows into the uterus. Since rats (like humans) have a placenta that burrows deep into the uterus, in this proposal, we will use a rat model in which osteopontin is lacking, along with human cells, to uncover the role of this protein in formation of the placenta. Moreover, we will test whether inflammation, which is also associated with these dangerous pregnancy problems, alters how much osteopontin is produced and therefore disrupts how the placenta forms. Our findings will help uncover the importance of osteopontin in controlling placental development and may be a stepping stone to figure out the cause of these common and dangerous pregnancy problems.