Nature & Environment
Marmoset Monkeys Provide Clues to Lowering Stillbirth in Women
Benita Matilda
First Posted: May 30, 2014 07:50 AM EDT
Marmoset, a squirrel-sized monkey, provides clues to lowering stillbirths in human mothers, according to a new study.
The prenatal environment in which a female marmoset fetus grows has a significant effect on the later reproductive success of that female as an adult, according to Julienne Rutherford, lead author of the study.
Researchers at the University of Illinois of Chicago College of Nursing examined over a decade of data on 1,395 animals of both sexes. They also analyzed the birth condition of the animals at the Southwest National Primate Research Center in San Antonio. They claim that marmoset monkeys, native to South America, offer information on reducing human stillbirths, a condition that is poorly understood.
Stillbirth or fetal deaths refers to the spontaneous intrauterine death of the fetus at any time during the pregnancy. About one in every 160 pregnancies ends in a stillbirth in the U.S. and this sums up to about 26,000 each year nationwide.
The marmoset monkeys are known to attain sexual maturity by 15 months of age. They have multiple births, mostly twins and triplets. Adult females born in a triplet litter get pregnant as often as those born as twins. But they have an increased risk of losing three times as many fetuses and 50 percent of the losses occur during labor and delivery.
Most of the studies on pregnancy loss basically focus on situations that occurred at the time of the loss. In human mother's it is the current health and nutritional status, race and income.
"Taken together, these factors explain a large portion of pregnancy loss, but not all," Rutherford, assistant professor of women, children and family health science at UIC said. "Our study suggests we need to consider a woman's entire life history, including her experience as a fetus herself, to solve the mystery of childbirth."
In marmoset monkeys, females who had a male in the litter lost more number of fetuses compared to those who were born in all female litter.
The unexplained 'brother effect' on female fertility may be because of the exposure to male hormone during the fetal development. It is clear that adult reproductive function, mainly stillbirth, is affected by circumstances that took place before adulthood.
This finding presents new technique to screen, diagnose and treat human reproductive dysfunction based on development environment.
"There may also be profound policy implications for the kinds of environments we as a society provide for babies, girls and women," Rutherford said.
The finding was documented in PLOS One.
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First Posted: May 30, 2014 07:50 AM EDT
Marmoset, a squirrel-sized monkey, provides clues to lowering stillbirths in human mothers, according to a new study.
The prenatal environment in which a female marmoset fetus grows has a significant effect on the later reproductive success of that female as an adult, according to Julienne Rutherford, lead author of the study.
Researchers at the University of Illinois of Chicago College of Nursing examined over a decade of data on 1,395 animals of both sexes. They also analyzed the birth condition of the animals at the Southwest National Primate Research Center in San Antonio. They claim that marmoset monkeys, native to South America, offer information on reducing human stillbirths, a condition that is poorly understood.
Stillbirth or fetal deaths refers to the spontaneous intrauterine death of the fetus at any time during the pregnancy. About one in every 160 pregnancies ends in a stillbirth in the U.S. and this sums up to about 26,000 each year nationwide.
The marmoset monkeys are known to attain sexual maturity by 15 months of age. They have multiple births, mostly twins and triplets. Adult females born in a triplet litter get pregnant as often as those born as twins. But they have an increased risk of losing three times as many fetuses and 50 percent of the losses occur during labor and delivery.
Most of the studies on pregnancy loss basically focus on situations that occurred at the time of the loss. In human mother's it is the current health and nutritional status, race and income.
"Taken together, these factors explain a large portion of pregnancy loss, but not all," Rutherford, assistant professor of women, children and family health science at UIC said. "Our study suggests we need to consider a woman's entire life history, including her experience as a fetus herself, to solve the mystery of childbirth."
In marmoset monkeys, females who had a male in the litter lost more number of fetuses compared to those who were born in all female litter.
The unexplained 'brother effect' on female fertility may be because of the exposure to male hormone during the fetal development. It is clear that adult reproductive function, mainly stillbirth, is affected by circumstances that took place before adulthood.
This finding presents new technique to screen, diagnose and treat human reproductive dysfunction based on development environment.
"There may also be profound policy implications for the kinds of environments we as a society provide for babies, girls and women," Rutherford said.
The finding was documented in PLOS One.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone