Premature Aging of Placenta Linked to Preterm Births

 A new study reveals that premature aging of placenta is responsible for preterm births.

In the current study, researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston found a strong link between premature aging of placenta due to oxidative stress and preterm births. 

Placenta is a temporary organ that forms inside the uterus during pregnancy. And premature aging of this placenta can cause prenatal complications. The growing fetus is deprived of the required nutrients that are necessary for its survival in such a condition.   Most often the placenta calcifies leaving a part of it dead.

Premature placental aging mostly takes place due to smoking during pregnancy and the presence of nanobacteria. These two factors trigger calcification. Other factors are diabetes and high blood pressure.

A lab study was conducted in which the researchers exposed the fetal membrane to oxidative stress. They then tested if this exposure leads to rapid aging of the placental tissue. The result was as expected; exposure did lead to premature aging.

Oxidative stress factors are a fall out daily life and include environmental toxins and pollution.  But a high oxidative stress can sometimes lead to premature aging resulting in premature births.

The researchers explain that the intake of antioxidant supplements taken during pregnancy fails to lower the risk of preterm birth mainly due to oxidative stress damage, fact not known till date.

"This is the first study to look at and prove that oxidative stress induces senescence, or aging, in human fetal cells," said Dr. Ramkumar Menon, an assistant professor in the UTMB Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and lead researcher on the study. "With more than 15 million pregnancies worldwide ending in preterm births, we can now move forward in discovering how this information may lead to better intervention strategies to reduce the risk of preterm birth."

 A study conducted earlier has indicated that one of the major causes of preterm rupture of the fetal membrane is infection. For this the standard intervention is antibiotics.

But the current study researchers found that interventions such as antibiotics and antioxidants are not dependable in avoiding preterm delivers. 

The study was documented in the American Journal of Pathology.