Human Reproduction, Vol. 18, No. 8, 1580-1587,
August 2003
© 2003 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology
Long-term effects of delayed motherhood in mice on postnatal development and behavioural traits of offspring
1 Department of Functional Biology and Physical Anthropology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Valencia, Burjassot, 46100 Valencia, 2 Department of Psychobiology, Faculty of Psychology, Complutense University of Madrid, 28223 Madrid, 3 Area of Psychobiology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Valencia, 46071 Valencia, 4 Research Unit, Hospital Clínico de Valencia and Department of Physiology, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, and 5 Department of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain
6 To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Department of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Valencia, Avda. Blasco Ibañez 17, 46010 Valencia, Spain. e-mail: tarinjj{at}uv.es
BACKGROUND: Some epidemiological evidence tentatively suggests that children born to older parents may have lower intellectual development and maturity than children whose parents are younger. This study aims to analyse the long-term effects of delayed motherhood in mice on postnatal development and behavioural traits later in life. METHODS: Hybrid females, either at the age of 10 weeks or 51 weeks, were individually housed with a randomly selected 12–14 week old hybrid male. After a postweaning resting period of 1 week, dams were caged again with a new randomly selected 12–14 week old male. This sequence of events was repeated until old females reached the end of their reproductive life. RESULTS: Delayed motherhood in mice not only had negative effects on reproductive potential but also on preweaning development of offspring as evidenced by higher mortality, retarded sensorimotor integration and lower body weights as well as on behavioural traits of young adult offspring including decreased spontaneous motor activity, lower step-through latencies in the retention trial of a passive avoidance behaviour test, and no changes in escape latencies throughout five daily sessions in a Morris water maze test. CONCLUSION: Advanced maternal age at conception may influence preweaning development and learning capacity of offspring in the mouse model.
Key words: ageing/behaviour/gamete biology/mouse model/ovum
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  S. Garcia-Palomares, J. F Pertusa, J. Minarro, M. A Garcia-Perez, C. Hermenegildo, F. Rausell, A. Cano, and J. J Tarin Long-Term Effects of Delayed Fatherhood in Mice on Postnatal Development and Behavioral Traits of Offspring Biol Reprod, February 1, 2009; 80(2): 337 - 342. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. J. Tarin, V. Gomez-Piquer, F. Rausell, S. Navarro, C. Hermenegildo, and A. Cano Delayed Motherhood Decreases Life Expectancy of Mouse Offspring Biol Reprod, June 1, 2005; 72(6): 1336 - 1343. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|