Figure 4.

Hyperglycemia increases trophoblast invasion in mid-early pregnancy. Primary human first trimester trophoblasts (gestational week (GW) 7–8, n = 5; GW 9–10, n = 7; GW 11–12, n = 6) were cultured in absence (control) or presence of 25 mM D-glucose (hyperglycemia) and 5.5 mM D-glucose + 19.5 mM D-mannitol (osmotic control) for 48 h. Trophoblast invasion was quantified using a Transwell assay with four different extracellular matrices: collagen I, collagen IV, fibronectin, and laminin (A). Invasion data from the different matrices were pooled and also analyzed for different GW periods (B). Results were expressed as invasion index and calculated relative to the control, arbitrarily set to 1. Each condition was assayed in quadruplicates. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. Statistical analysis used Wilcoxon signed rank test. * p < 0.05 vs. control.