Figure 2

Syndecan-1 is reduced in early onset FGR and by hypoxia and may be important in placental proliferation. Circulating maternal syndecan-1 was measured in a cohort of women who delivered a preterm (< 34 weeks’ gestation—Cohort 5) FGR infant (n = 10) relative to women who delivered healthy infants at term (n = 18 matched for gestation at blood sampling). Circulating syndecan-1 was significantly reduced in the FGR cohort (A). Syndecan-1 was localised to the syncytiotrophoblast layer in both pre-term control and FGR placentas (B). In placentas obtained from women who delivered a preterm FGR infant (n = 21) relative to preterm controls (n = 12), syndecan-1 mRNA expression was not significantly changed (C). Similarly, no significant difference in protein expression between FGR (n = 27) and preterm control (n = 10) placentas was identified (D). When isolated primary cytotrophoblast (E) or syncytialised first trimester stem cells (F) were exposed to hypoxia (1% O₂), syndecan-1 secretion was significantly reduced. Finally, in the HTR8/SVneo cell line, when syndecan-1 was silenced using siRNA, we observed a reduction in cellular proliferation measured using xCELLigence (G). Data expressed as mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01.