Impact of Advanced Maternal Age on Physiologic Adaptations to Pregnancy in Vervet Monkeys

Abstract

26Context: The trend to delay pregnancy in the United States has resulted in the number of 27 advanced maternal age (AMA) pregnancies to also increase. In humans, AMA is associ-28 ated with a variety of pregnancy-related pathologies such as preeclampsia (PE). While 29 AMA is known to be a factor which contributes to the development of pregnancy-induced 30 diseases, the molecular and cellular mechanisms giving rise to this phenomenon are still 31 very limited. This is due in part to lack of a pre-clinical model which has physiologic rele-32 vance to human pregnancy while also allowing control of environmental and genetic var-33 iability inherent in human studies. 34 35Objective: To determine potential physiologic relevance of the vervet/African green mon-36 key (Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus) as a pre-clinical model to study the effects of AMA 37 on adaptations to pregnancy. 38 39 Design: Thirteen age-diverse pregnant vervet monkeys (3-16 y.o.) were utilized to meas-40 ure third trimester blood pressure (BP), complete blood count, iron measurements and 41 hormone levels. 42 43 Results: Significant associations were observed between third trimester diastolic BP and 44 maternal age. Furthermore, the presence of leukocytosis with enhanced circulating neu-45 trophils was observed in AMA mothers compared to younger mothers. Moreover, we ob-46 served a negative relationship between maternal age and estradiol, progesterone and 47 cortisol levels. Finally, offspring born to AMA mothers displayed a postnatal growth retar-48 dation phenotype. 49 3 50 Conclusions: These studies demonstrate physiologic impairment in the adaptation to 51 pregnancy in AMA vervet/African green monkeys. Our data indicate the vervet/African 52 green monkey may serve as a useful pre-clinical model and tool for deciphering patho-53 logical mediators of maternal disease in AMA pregnancy. 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 Introduction: 72Health quality and outcomes for pregnant mothers in the United States are not 73 improving, even with the advancement of modern medicine. In fact, US pregnancy-related 74 maternal mortalities rose 26.6% between 2000 and 2014 1 . Moreover, while the US infant 75 mortality rate is not increasing, it is significantly higher than that of other developed coun-76 tries 2 . This data highlights a pressing need to understand maternal adaptations to preg-77 nancy in an effort to improve health outcomes for both the mother and child. 78Over the last several decades, women and their partners more frequently choose 79 to delay childbirth. The reasons for this change are multi-factorial, but include educational 80 pursuit, access to reliable contraception, and economic uncertainty 3 . While the overall 81 national fertility rate has steadily declined to the lowest numbers recorded in 32 years, 82 the rate of advanced maternal age (AMA) pregnancies, defined as 35 years and older, 83 has risen dramatically 4 . From 2000 to 2014, birth rates for women under 20 declined 42% 84 while the number of women having their ...

Pregnancy complications in wild vervet monkeys in an urban mosaic landscape

“…An inadequate diet and lack of natural food are associated with poor maternal conditions and high mortality rates of neonates (Fairbanks & McGuire, 1995;Hauser & Fairbanks, 1988). Vervets risk developing diabetes or being insulin resistant and hyperglycaemic, which may harm parturition (Kavanagh et al, 2011;Plant et al, 2020aPlant et al, , 2020b. Alternatively, increased anthropogenic food may result in increased foetal body masses.…”

“…Parturition in vervets is generally a solitary event at night while roosting in trees (Fairbanks & McGuire, 1984). Most studies on parturition in vervets have occurred in captive populations with access to veterinarian care (Fairbanks & McGuire, 1986; Kavanagh et al., 2011; Plant et al., 2020a, 2020b; Seier et al., 2000). This study describes novel evidence of birthing complications and dystocia observed in the parturition of wild vervets in the urban mosaic landscape of Durban, South Africa.…”

“…Parturition in vervets is generally a solitary event at night while roosting in trees (Fairbanks & McGuire, 1984). Most studies on parturition in vervets have occurred in captive populations with access to veterinarian care (Fairbanks & McGuire, 1986;Kavanagh et al, 2011;Plant et al, 2020aPlant et al, , 2020bSeier et al, 2000).…”