International Journal of Molecular Sciences Article Profiling of Tryptophan Metabolic Pathways in the Rat Fetoplacental Unit during Gestation 1, 1, 2 1 1 Cilia Abad y, Rona Karahoda y , Petr Kastner , Ramon Portillo , Hana Horackova , Radim Kucera 2, Petr Nachtigal 3 and Frantisek Staud 1,* 1 Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Kralove, Charles University, Akademika Heyrovskeho 1203, 500 05 Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic;
[email protected] (C.A.);
[email protected] (R.K.);
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[email protected] (H.H.) 2 Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Analysis, Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Kralove, Charles University, Akademika Heyrovskeho 1203, 500 05 Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic;
[email protected] (P.K.);
[email protected] (R.K.) 3 Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Kralove, Charles University, Akademika Heyrovskeho 1203, 500 05 Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic;
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[email protected]; Tel.: +420-495-067-407 These authors contributed equally to this work. y Received: 23 September 2020; Accepted: 11 October 2020; Published: 14 October 2020 Abstract: Placental homeostasis of tryptophan is essential for fetal development and programming. The two main metabolic pathways (serotonin and kynurenine) produce bioactive metabolites with immunosuppressive, neurotoxic, or neuroprotective properties and their concentrations in the fetoplacental unit must be tightly regulated throughout gestation. Here, we investigated the expression/function of key enzymes/transporters involved in tryptophan pathways during mid-to-late gestation in rat placenta and fetal organs. Quantitative PCR and heatmap analysis revealed the differential expression of several genes involved in serotonin and kynurenine pathways.