Multi-organ assessment via a 9.4-Tesla MRS evaluation of metabolites during the embryonic development of cleft palate induced by dexamethasone

The aim of the present study was to determine the association between maternal metabolism and development of the fetal palate, and to suggest a potential non-invasive prenatal diagnostic method for fetal cleft palate (CP). Dexamethasone (DXM) was used to create a CP mouse model. A 9.4-Tesla (T) magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) imager was used to measure an array of metabolites in the maternal serum, placental tissue, amniotic fluid and fetal palates. Multivariate statistical analysis was performed using SIMCA-P 14.1 software. Following DXM treatment, variations were detected in multiple metabolites in the female mice and their fetuses based on 9.4T MRS. It was indicated that in the experimental group during CP formation, leucine, valine, creatine, acetate and citrate levels in the palatal tissue were lower, whereas lactate, alanine, proline/inositol and glutamate-containing metabolite levels were higher, compared with the levels in the control group. In placental tissue and amniotic fluid, succinate and choline levels were lower in the experimental group. The relative concentrations of cholesterol and lipids in palatal tissues from mice treated with DXM were higher compared with the concentrations in tissues from mice in the control group, with the exception of (CH(2))n lipids. In the placental tissue, the alteration in cholesterol level exhibited the opposite trend. Lipid levels for the different lipid forms varied and most of them were unsaturated lipids.