OSCR

Diminished Maternal Tryptophan Leads to Sexually Dimorphic Differences in the Placenta-Brain Axis.

Overview

Authors: Rosalind T B Herrington1,2, Zhen Lyu3,4, Sarah E Seda1,5, Emmett E Boling1,2, Andrea K Goldstein6, Nathan J Bivens7, Zhentian Lei4,8,9, Tanhaul Islam8, Lloyd W Sumner4,8,9, Trupti Joshi3,4,10, Cheryl S Rosenfeld1,11,12,13
13 affiliations
  1. Pathobiology and Integrative Biomedical Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA; (R.T.B.H.); (S.E.S.); (E.E.B.)
  2. Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
  3. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, Marshall University, Huntington, WV 25703, USA; (Z.L.); (T.J.)
  4. Christopher S. Bond Life Science Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA; (Z.L.); (L.W.S.)
  5. Animal Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
  6. Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Women’s Health, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
  7. Genomics Technology Core Facility, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
  8. University of Missouri Metabolomics Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
  9. Division of Biochemistry, College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
  10. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65201, USA
  11. MU Institute for Data Science and Informatics, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
  12. Department of Genetics Area Program, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
  13. Department of Thompson Center for Autism and Neurobehavioral Disorders, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
Institutions: University of Missouri (United States); Marshall University (United States)
Journal: Nutrients, volume 18, issue 15, article 2575
Dates: received 5 June 2026; accepted 3 August 2026; published online 6 August 2026
Type: Research article · Language: English
License: CC BY
Identifiers: DOI 10.3390/nu18152575 · PMID 42588198 · PMCID PMC13468233 · OpenAlex W7197000590
Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)
Status: data only
Categories: genetics / omics (modality), mouse (organism)
Methods: Statistics, Smoothing, state filtering, decompositions
Keywords: trophoblast, pregnancy, maternal diet, transcriptomics, metabolomics, serotonin, nutrition
MeSH: Brain*, Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena*, Placenta*, Sex Characteristics*, Tryptophan*, Animals, Diet, Female, Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid, Male, Mice, Pregnancy, Serotonin, Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins (* major topic)
Topic: Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior (Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Neuroscience), according to OpenAlex
Funding: Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University (MURC) (None); U.S. National Science Foundation (OAC-2232889); Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (1R03HD114968-01A1); NIGMS NIH HHS (P20 GM103434, P20GM103434); Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (#AOC23380006); University of Missouri Research Council (None); NICHD NIH HHS (R03 HD114968)
Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 77 references in the paper

Abstract

Background: Tryptophan (Trp) is critical to mothers and their conceptuses, and this amino acid is the precursor to serotonin (5-HT). 5-HT modulates placenta function and fetal neurodevelopment. It is not clear if the placenta directly synthesizes 5-HT or uses the serotonin transporter (SERT/Slc6a4) to accrue 5-HT from the dam. The hypothesis tested herein is that reduction in maternal Trp leads to reductions in maternal Trp, 5-HT, and 5-hydroxy-3-indoleacetic acid (5-HIAA, metabolite of serotonin) and reductions in these metabolites within the placenta and fetal brain of female and male conceptuses. Methods: Female mice were placed on a reduced tryptophan (Trp) diet (0.1%) or control diet (0.2%). Diets were provided for two weeks prior to breeding (periconception period) until conceptuses were collected at approximately 12.5 days post-coitus (dpc). Results: While no reductions in maternal Trp and 5-HT were observed, both metabolites were significantly reduced in the placenta and fetal brain of male and female conceptuses (p < 0.05). Female conceptuses were susceptible to reductions in maternal Trp with 549 and 29 transcripts altered in the female placenta and fetal brain, respectively, of reduced Trp dams compared to control dams. Transcriptomic changes, such as reduced expression in Slc6a4 and Slc6a19 (transporter for Trp), in placenta of female conceptuses correlated with reductions in Trp and 5-HT amounts. Conclusions: Findings might have clinical importance to pregnant women as they reveal even subtle reductions in one amino acid profoundly influence conceptus development and might lead to sexual disparity in risk for later diseases, including neurobehavioral disorders.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper links to its data, not to its authors' code: see the Data section.

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Data

Datasets cited

Data Availability Statement

RNA sequencing data have been deposited and are publicly available in the Gene Expression Omnibus under accession: GSE330442 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/query/acc.cgi?acc=GSE330442) (accessed on 2 August 2026).

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 11 authors, 7 keywords, 14 MeSH terms, 7 funders, 74 references.

Cite

This paper

Herrington, R. T. B., Lyu, Z., Seda, S. E., Boling, E. E., Goldstein, A. K., Bivens, N. J., Lei, Z., Islam, T., Sumner, L. W., Joshi, T., & Rosenfeld, C. S. (2026). Diminished Maternal Tryptophan Leads to Sexually Dimorphic Differences in the Placenta-Brain Axis. Nutrients, 18(15), 2575. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu18152575

BibTeX

@article{herrington2026diminished,
author = {Herrington, Rosalind T B and Lyu, Zhen and Seda, Sarah E and Boling, Emmett E and Goldstein, Andrea K and Bivens, Nathan J and Lei, Zhentian and Islam, Tanhaul and Sumner, Lloyd W and Joshi, Trupti and Rosenfeld, Cheryl S},
title = {{Diminished Maternal Tryptophan Leads to Sexually Dimorphic Differences in the Placenta-Brain Axis}},
journal = {Nutrients},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
volume = {18},
number = {15},
pages = {2575},
publisher = {Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)},
issn = {2072-6643},
doi = {10.3390/nu18152575},
url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/nu18152575},
pmid = {42588198},
pmcid = {PMC13468233}
}

RIS

TY - JOUR
AU - Herrington, Rosalind T B
AU - Lyu, Zhen
AU - Seda, Sarah E
AU - Boling, Emmett E
AU - Goldstein, Andrea K
AU - Bivens, Nathan J
AU - Lei, Zhentian
AU - Islam, Tanhaul
AU - Sumner, Lloyd W
AU - Joshi, Trupti
AU - Rosenfeld, Cheryl S
TI - Diminished Maternal Tryptophan Leads to Sexually Dimorphic Differences in the Placenta-Brain Axis
T2 - Nutrients
J2 - Nutrients
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/06
VL - 18
IS - 15
SP - 2575
SN - 2072-6643
PB - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)
DO - 10.3390/nu18152575
UR - https://doi.org/10.3390/nu18152575
LA - en
ER -

CSL-JSON

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