| Summary: | Multidrug resistance phosphoglycoprotein (P-gp) is expressed in the placenta and fetal blood-brain barrier (BBB) and plays a critical role in reducing fetal accumulation of xenobiotics. In other tissues, P-gp activity is inhibited by selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and by lethal doses of LPS modeling a bacterial infection. However, nothing is known with respect to the effects of SSRIs or nonlethal infection on P-gp activity in the placenta or fetal tissues. In the studies presented in this thesis, we hypothesized that (1) the SSRI sertraline and (2) a nonlethal maternal bacterial infection would decrease P-gp activity in the placenta and fetal BBB. The first study shows that sertraline affects P-gp activity at these barrier sites in a tissue-specific manner. The second study shows that nonlethal infection does not significantly affect P-gp activity at either site. However, nonlethal infection may still influence substrate biodistribution by altering hepatic elimination of these substrates.
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