Sex-specific effects of advanced maternal age on cardiovascular function in aged adult rat offspring

Pregnancy at an advanced maternal age has an increased risk of complications for both the mothers and their offspring. We have previously shown that advanced maternal age in a rat model leads to poor fetal outcomes, maternal vascular dysfunction, and hypertension, concordant with findings in humans. Moreover, offspring from aged dams had sex-specific cardiovascular dysfunction in young adulthood. However, the detrimental impact of aging on the cardiovascular system of the offspring in this model is unknown. We hypothesized that offspring born to aged dams (9.5-10 mo old) would have impaired cardiovascular function at 12 mo of age. Echocardiographic data revealed signs of mild left ventricular diastolic dysfunction in only male offspring from aged dams [isovolumetric relaxation time: 34.27 ± 2.04 in the young dam group vs. 27.61 ± 0.99 ms in the aged dam group, P < 0.01; mitral annular velocity ratio ( E'/ A'): 1.08 ± 0.04 in the young dam group vs. 0.96 ± 0.02 in the aged dam group, P < 0.05]. We have previously shown that in young adulthood (4 mo of age), male, but not female, offspring born to aged dams had impaired recovery from ischemia-reperfusion injury. Aging did not alter the susceptibility of female offspring to ischemia-reperfusion injury. Interestingly, wire myography data revealed that male offspring from aged dams had enhanced vascular sensitivity to methacholine (negative log of EC₅₀: 7.4 ± 0.08 in young dams vs. 7.9 ± 0.11 in aged dams, P = 0.007) due, in part, to increased prostaglandin-mediated vasodilation. Despite intact endothelium-dependent relaxation, female offspring from aged dams had elevated systolic blood pressure (125.3 ± 4.2 mmHg in young dams vs. 144.0 ± 6.9 mmHg in aged dams, P = 0.03). These data highlight sex-specific mechanisms underlying cardiovascular programming in offspring born to dams of advanced age. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Our study demonstrated that adult male and female offspring (12 mo old) born to aged dams had impaired cardiac diastolic function and increased blood pressure, respectively, signifying sex-specific differential cardiovascular effects of advanced maternal age.