https://ogma.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/ /manager/Index ${session.getAttribute("locale")} 5 Development of an experimental model of maternal allergic asthma during pregnancy https://ogma.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/ /manager/Repository/uon:29168 n = 7) or non-allergic (control, n = 5), and subjected to repeated airway challenges with HDM (allergic group) or saline (control group) throughout gestation. Maternal lung, fetal and placental phenotypes were characterised at 140 ± 1 days gestational age (term, ~147 days). The eosinophil influx into lungs was greater after HDM challenge in allergic ewes than after saline challenge in control ewes before mating and in late gestation. Airway resistance increased throughout pregnancy in allergic but not control ewes, consistent with increased airway smooth muscle in allergic ewes. Maternal allergic asthma decreased relative fetal weight (-12%) and altered placental phenotype to a more mature form. Expression of surfactant protein B mRNA was 48% lower in fetuses from allergic ewes than controls, with a similar trend for surfactant protein D. Thus, allergic asthma in pregnant sheep modifies placental phenotype, and inhibits fetal growth and lung development consistent with observations from human pregnancies. Preconceptional allergen sensitisation and repeated airway challenges in pregnant sheep therefore provides an animal model to identify mechanisms of altered fetal development and adverse pregnancy outcomes caused by maternal asthma in pregnancy.]]> Sat 24 Mar 2018 07:35:45 AEDT ]]> Guinea pig models for translation of the developmental origins of health and disease hypothesis into the clinic https://ogma.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/ /manager/Repository/uon:44727 Mon 24 Oct 2022 08:12:40 AEDT ]]>