Maternal circulating miRNAs that predict infant FASD outcomes influence placental maturation

Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE), like other pregnancy complications, can result in placental insufficiency and fetal growth restriction, although the linking causal mechanisms are unclear. We previously identified 11 gestationally elevated maternal circulating miRNAs ((HEa)miRNAs) that predicted infant growth deficits following PAE. Here, we investigated whether these (HEa)miRNAs contribute to the pathology of PAE, by inhibiting trophoblast epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), a pathway critical for placental development. We now report for the first time that PAE inhibits expression of placental pro-EMT pathway members in both rodents and primates, and that (HEa)miRNAs collectively, but not individually, mediate placental EMT inhibition. (HEa)miRNAs collectively, but not individually, also inhibited cell proliferation and the EMT pathway in cultured trophoblasts, while inducing cell stress, and following trophoblast syncytialization, aberrant endocrine maturation. Moreover, a single intravascular administration of the pooled murine-expressed (HEa)miRNAs, to pregnant mice, decreased placental and fetal growth and inhibited the expression of pro-EMT transcripts in the placenta. Our data suggest that (HEa)miRNAs collectively interfere with placental development, contributing to the pathology of PAE, and perhaps also, to other causes of fetal growth restriction.