Study record
MOTS‑c protects against placental injury via Nrf2 activation in hypoxia‑induced intrauterine growth restriction mice
Chen D, Zhao HM, Sun XL et al. · Int J Mol Med · 2026
What this study reported
Measured maternal serum and placental MOTS-c in mice with hypoxia-induced intrauterine growth restriction and reported that lower placental MOTS-c content correlated positively with lower fetal weight. Found that administered MOTS-c was associated with attenuated hypoxia-induced growth restriction, greater placental angiogenesis and less oxidative stress-related placental dysfunction in these mice. Reported that these associations were absent in Nrf2 knockout mice and in human umbilical vein endothelial cells pretreated with the Nrf2 inhibitor ML385.
Limitations
Single mouse strain and a single hypoxia model with group sizes not reported in the abstract, one human endothelial cell line used for the in vitro arm, and surrogate placental and expression endpoints rather than offspring outcomes beyond birth.
Study record
| Study model | Animal study (in vivo) |
|---|---|
| Substance studied | SeveralMore than one of these is central to the paper (common for reviews). |
| Species | mouse, human |
| System studied | Wild-type and Nrf2 knockout pregnant C57BL/6 mice under gestational hypoxia; human umbilical vein endothelial cells |
| Population | Not reported |
| Design | Controlled animal experiment with knockout comparison and cell culture experiments |
| Sample size as reported | Not reported |
| Control group | normoxic pregnant mice and untreated hypoxia-exposed mice; Nrf2 knockout mice and ML385-pretreated cells |
| Route (data field only) | Not reported |
| Endpoints measured | fetal weight; maternal serum and placental MOTS-c concentration; placental histology and angiogenesis markers; oxidative stress markers; Nrf2 pathway protein and transcript expression |
| Pathways measured | NRF2 / antioxidant response · Oxidative stress |
| Research areas | Pregnancy · Reproductive · Mitochondrial biology |
| Evidence tier | C — Animal in vivo |
| Publication types | Journal Article |
Appraisal
Each dimension is recorded separately and never combined into a single score. A study can be well controlled and still tell you little about people.
- Relevance to MOTS-c
- Direct
- Model applicability
- Mammalian
- Sample size
- Not reported
- Controls
- Appropriate
- Outcome validity
- Surrogate
- Support for its own conclusion
- Moderate
Provenance
- Bibliographic fields retrieved from PubMed E-utilities efetch (title, journal, date, authors, DOI) on 2026-11-11.
- Annotated from the published abstract.
- Editorial review: approved (2026-11-11).
- Classification follows the site methodology; the record describes the study, not what MOTS-c does in people.