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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Cell Dev. Biol.
Sec. Molecular and Cellular Pathology
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcell.2024.1390533

Presence of Fetal Microchimerisms in the Heart and Effect on Cardiac Repair

Provisionally accepted
Vicente Llorente Vicente Llorente 1Marina López-Olañeta Marina López-Olañeta 2Elena Blázquez-López Elena Blázquez-López 1,3Elena Vázquez-Ogando Elena Vázquez-Ogando 1,3Magdalena Martínez-García Magdalena Martínez-García 1,4Javier Vaquero Javier Vaquero 1,3,5Susana Carmona Susana Carmona 1,4Manuel Desco Manuel Desco 1,2,4,6*Enrique Lara-Pezzi Enrique Lara-Pezzi 2María Victoria Gómez-Gaviro María Victoria Gómez-Gaviro 1,4*
  • 1 Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain
  • 2 Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC), Madrid, Spain
  • 3 Digestive System Service of the HGU Gregorio Marañón, Gregorio Maranon Health Research Institute, Madrid, Asturias, Spain
  • 4 Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain
  • 5 Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBERehd), Madrid, Spain
  • 6 Departamento de Bioingeniería, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Getafe, Madrid, Spain

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Multiple complex biological processes take place during pregnancy, including the migration of fetal cells to maternal circulation and their subsequent engraftment in maternal tissues, where they form microchimerisms. Fetal microchimerisms have been identified in several tissues; nevertheless, their functional role remains largely unknown. Different reports suggest these cells contribute to tissue repair and modulate the immune response, but they have also been associated with pre-eclampsia and tumor formation. In the maternal heart, cells of fetal origin can contribute to different cell lineages after myocardial infarction. However, the functional role of these cells and their effect on cardiac function and repair are unknown. In this work, we found that microchimerisms of fetal origin are present in the maternal circulation and graft in the heart. To determine their functional role, WT female mice were crossed with male mice expressing the diphtheria toxin (DT) receptor. Mothers were treated with DT to eliminate microchimerisms and the response to myocardial infarction was investigated. We found that removal of microchimerisms improved cardiac contraction in postpartum and post-infarction model females compared to untreated mice, where DT administration had no significant effects. These results suggest that microchimerisms play a detrimental role in the mother following myocardial infarction.

    Keywords: Chimerism, Feto-maternal microchimerism, Myocardial Infarction, Echocardiography, Animal Models

    Received: 23 Feb 2024; Accepted: 23 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Llorente, López-Olañeta, Blázquez-López, Vázquez-Ogando, Martínez-García, Vaquero, Carmona, Desco, Lara-Pezzi and Gómez-Gaviro. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Manuel Desco, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain
    María Victoria Gómez-Gaviro, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain

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