Background: It is well established throughout the literature that regularly engaging in physical activity throughout pregnancy is associated with optimized health outcomes for both the mother and the fetus. The mediators and mechanistic pathways through which these observed exercise-induced outcomes are achieved are largely unknown. This thesis attempts to address this gap in knowledge.
Methods: The objective of the first study was to develop an exercise protocol based on the recommendations from the ‘2019 Canadian guideline for physical activity throughout pregnancy’ and to subsequently evaluate the myokine response post-exercise. Pregnant (n=13) and non-pregnant (n=17) women performed a moderate-intensity bout of treadmill walking following which pre- and post-exercise serum for a panel of ten well-characterized myokines was analyzed. The objective of the second study was to evaluate whether acute and/or chronic exercise elicited changes in metrics of placental growth and development – thereby proposing possible mechanisms through which physical activity may be conferring health benefits to the fetus. Serum (pre- and post-exercise) collected from the first study was used to treat placental cell lines to assess the effect of acute exercise on cellular proliferation as well as nutrient transporter (GLUT1, SNAT1, FATP4) expression and localization. Term placental tissue collected from active (n=10) and non-active (n=10) participants in the PLACENTA study were used to evaluate the role of chronic exercise on changes in nutrient transporter (GLUT1, SNAT1, FATP4) expression and localization.
Results: Pregnant women from the first study exhibited higher levels of four myokines post- versus pre-exercise: FGF21, EPO, BDNF and IL-15. As for the second study, BeWo cell lines treated with serum collected from pregnant women yielded higher GLUT1 expression compared to non-pregnant serum, independently of exercise. Lastly, FATP4 expression was found to be higher in term placentas of active compared to non-active pregnant women.
Conclusion: This thesis identified four myokines that are elevated in the serum of pregnant women following a bout of acute exercise. The role of these myokines in pregnancy remains to be elucidated. Further, chronic and acute exercise are shown to alter expression of key placental macronutrient transporters.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/39808 |
| Date | 06 November 2019 |
| Creators | Hutchinson, Kelly Ann |
| Contributors | Adamo, Kristi Bree |
| Publisher | Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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