Funding outcome

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a major health issue worldwide, causing many deaths. It is now known that the risk for CVDs can begin very early in life (including in the mother's womb). For example, if you were born from an older mother (>35 years of age) you have a higher risk of CVDs later in your life. However, we currently do not know who of the children born from older mothers will be most likely to get CVDs later in life. Some children of older mothers will grow up without any health problems, while others may get CVD. Thus, our aim in the current project is to find specific signs and pathways related to cardiovascular health in offspring born from older mothers. This can help us understand why some children born from older moms will face cardiovascular problems later in life. To study this, we will use an animal model of pregnancies in older mothers (dams) and compare them to younger mothers. We have collected samples of blood, urine, and tissues from young and old dams and their offspring. We will use specific high-tech tools to look at different biomolecules (called metabolites) and proteins in our samples. By combining these data, we aim to discover patterns (specific metabolites) early in life/during pregnancy that tell us about their future cardiovascular health. Moreover, we want to use this information to create tools for doctors to predict the risk for getting CVDs. Lastly, our findings could lead to development of early treatments to reduce CVDs. Thus, as more and more women delay childbirth, understanding and addressing the cardiovascular risks in their children is essential, and our work could help reduce CVDs globally.