Developmental Circadian Disruption Alters Placental Signaling in Mice

Circadian disruption has been largely overlooked as a developmental exposure. The placenta, a conduit between the maternal and fetal environments, may relay circadian cues to the fetus. We have previously shown that developmental chronodisruption causes visual impairment and increased retinal microglial and macrophage marker expression. Here, we investigated the impacts of environmental circadian disruption on fetal and placental outcomes in a C57BL/6J mouse (Mus musculus) model. Developmental chronodisruption had no effect on embryo count, placental weight, or fetal sex ratio. When measured with RNAseq, mice exposed to developmental circadian disruption (CD) had differential placental expression of several transcripts including Serpinf1, which encodes pigment-epithelium derived factor (PEDF). Immunofluorescence of microglia/macrophage markers, Iba1 and CD11b, also revealed significant upregulation of immune cell markers in CD-exposed placenta. Our results suggest that in utero circadian disruption enhances placental immune cell expression, potentially programming a pro-inflammatory tissue environment that increases the risk of chronic disease in adulthood.