Scientists discover possible biomarkers to detect opioid use disorders during pregnancy

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.August 26, 2020

Scientists at the University of Missouri have discovered a potential biological marker that could be expected to help identify the presence of opioid use disorders during human pregnancy.

The research author, Cheryl S. Rosenfeld, said that these drugs transfer from the placenta of the fetus, the mother to the fetus, because women often take opioids to control pain during pregnancy, including oxycodone. Rosenfeld is a professor of biomedical sciences at the School of Veterinary Medicine, a researcher at Christopher S. Bond Life Science Center, and a research faculty member at the Thompson Autism and Neurodevelopmental Center.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of pregnant women diagnosed with opioid use disorders has quadrupled between 1999 and 2014.

“Many pregnant women are prescribed opioids, especially oxycondone, or oxycodone, to help with the pain they can experience during pregnancy, which can lead to impaired opioid use,” Rosenfeld said. .. “Many women don’t want to allow these medications. We know that children born to mothers who take opioids during pregnancy experience post-natal conditions such as low weight. But so far No one has studied the potential impact of opioid use during the prenatal period, so we focused on the placenta because it is the main communication organ between the mother and the fetus.”

Previous studies investigating these effects have used human cell cultures, which is one of the first to study the effects of developmental exposure to these drugs on conceptus using animal models. is. In this study, Rosenfeld and her colleagues focused on how maternal oxycodone use during pregnancy can affect the placenta in mice. The mouse and human placenta are similar in many respects, including placing placenta-specific cells in direct contact with maternal blood. They found that the use of this drug during pregnancy can adversely affect placental structure, such as reducing or killing cells that produce by-products required for normal brain development. In addition, Rosenfeld said that their findings show certain differences in genetic expression between the female placenta and the male placenta in response to maternal exposure to oxycodone. It was.

Our results show that when a mother takes oxycodone during pregnancy, it causes severe placental disorders, including elevated expression of certain genes. We know what a normal level should be, and if something changes, something might have caused such an effect. For example, in response to exposure of a substance to oxycodone, the female placenta begins to increase the production of key genes essential for regulating the physiological function of the substance. However, it turns out that some of these same genes are down-regulated in the male placenta. These expression patterns could be potential biomarkers for detecting exposure to oxycodone usage. “

University of Missouri Cheryl S. Rosenfeld

By studying this in animal models, Rosenfeld says scientists will be able to see these changes faster than comparative studies of people. Pregnant mice can give birth in 21 days, whereas humans take about 9 months.

“This also allows us to easily study other areas of the body, especially the brains of exposed offspring affected by taking these opioids,” Rosenfeld said. “Using this information, epidemiologists can identify behaviors that should be noted by children whose mothers are taking these opioids.”

Rosenfeld suggests that opioids should be added to other widely discussed warning factors, such as smoking and drinking during pregnancy. She said that short-term use of opioids by pregnant women, such as those with kidney stones, may have little impact on pregnancy, but it probably depends on when the mother is taking the drug during pregnancy. I will do it. Future plans for this study include analyzing how postnatal offspring will be affected.

The Rosenfeld study is an example of an early stage of translational medicine, or a study aimed at improving human health by determining animal science findings and their relevance to people. This research can provide the basis for precision medicine or personalized human medicine. Precision medicine is a key component of the NextGen Precision Health Initiative, a top priority of the University of Missouri system.