3.3. Gene expression of OCTN transporters in placental villous
explants upon effect of inflammatory stimulants
Following the in vitro experiments using placental cell lines
BeWo and HTR-8/SVneo, we aimed to verify the results using ex
vivo model derived directly from human term placenta. Therefore,
placental villous explants have been established and exposed for 24 and
72 h to the same pro-inflammatory cytokines and stimulators as in the
previous in vitro models (Fig. 3 A, B). Significant increase in
the expression of SLC22A4 transporter was observed after
exposition to LPS (Fig. 3 A). Some slight increase in the expression ofSLC22A5 could be seen after exposition to IFN-γ, but without the
statistical significance and not reaching the threshold of 2-fold
change. Following exposure to LPS and TNF-α the expression ofSLC22A5 transporter reached statistical down-regulation (Fig. 3
B). Exposure of explants to any of the other pro-inflammatory cytokines
and stimulators did not significantly change the gene expression of any
of the two OCTN transporters.