Advanced maternal age alters cardiac functional and structural adaptations to pregnancy in rats

Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2024 Mar 8. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00057.2024. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTA significant number of pregnancies occur at advanced maternal age (>35 years), which is a risk factor for pregnancy complications. Healthy pregnancies require massive hemodynamic adaptations, including an increased blood volume and cardiac output. There is growing evidence that these cardiovascular adaptations are impaired with age, however, little is known about maternal cardiac function with advanced age. We hypothesized that cardiac adaptations to pregnancy are impaired with advanced maternal age. Younger (4 months; ~early reproductive maturity in humans) and aged (9 months; ~35 years in humans) pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were assessed and compared to age-matched non-pregnant controls. Two-dimensional echocardiographic images were obtained (ultrasound biomicroscopy; under anesthesia) on gestational day 19 (term=22 days) and compared to age-matched non-pregnant rats (n=7-9/group). Left ventricular structure and function were assessed using short-axis images and transmitral Doppler signals. During systole, left ventricular anterior wall thickness increased with age in the non-pregnant rats, but there was no age-related difference between the pregnant groups. There were no significant pregnancy-associated differences in left ventricular wall thickness. Calculated left ventricular mass increased with age in non-pregnant rats, and increased with pregnancy only in y...
Source: American Journal of Physiology. Heart and Circulatory Physiology - Category: Physiology Authors: Source Type: research