Funding outcome

One of the most noticeable demographic trends across the world is that women are getting pregnant at an older age, also called advanced maternal age. Advanced maternal age is considered a pregnancy in women aged 35 years or older. One in every five live births in Canada is from a woman of age ≥35 years and this incidence is projected to rise in the next decades. It is known that pregnancy in women of advanced age leads to an increased risk of complications, such as low birthweight, preeclampsia (high blood pressure in pregnancy), preterm birth, and caesarean section. To maintain a healthy pregnancy, a variety of changes occurs to the mother's heart and blood vessels to provide oxygen and nutrition to the growing baby. Whether these changes are altered in women of advanced age during pregnancy is unknown. Research has shown that blood vessel function can be altered by the accumulation of damaging molecules, also called oxidative stress. Oxidative stress may affect key enzymes and hormones necessary for normal function of the blood vessels, thus influencing growth and development of the baby. In the current study, we will use an animal model of advanced maternal age to study new mechanisms by which oxidative stress might be responsible for abnormal changes in the adaptations of the blood vessels to pregnancy. We will assess blood vessel function and measure the amount of oxidative stress in the blood vessels. These studies are important because, by understanding the process by which aging and oxidative stress affects blood vessel function during pregnancy, we may develop interventions to improve pregnancy outcomes in women of advanced maternal age in the future.