Science
Prevention of heart disease could start before birth
A specialised antioxidant called MitoQ could prevent heart disease at its very onset, according to research funded by us and published in Science Advances.
Babies that experience low oxygen levels in the womb due to pregnancy complications may go on to develop heart disease in adulthood. Low oxygen in the womb - known as chronic fetal hypoxia - is one of the most common complications in human pregnancy. It can be caused by a number of conditions including pre-eclampsia, infection of the placenta, gestational diabetes or maternal obesity.
In a process termed ‘oxidative stress,’ low oxygen to the developing baby can cause damage to its heart and blood vessels. Oxidative stress largely originates in the cells’ mitochondria - the ‘batteries’ that power our cells - where energy production occurs.
To target the mitochondria, the team used MitoQ, developed by Professor Mike Murphy and his colleagues at the University of Cambridge’s MRC-Mitochondrial Biology Unit. MitoQ specifically accumulates within mitochondria, where it works to reduce oxidative stress.
Having established the safety of the treatment, the researchers gave MitoQ to pregnant sheep under low oxygen conditions. They found that the mitochondrial therapy protects against impaired growth of the developing baby and their risk of high blood pressure in later life. Using chicken embryos they also showed that MitoQ protects against mitochondria-derived oxidative stress.
This is the first time that MitoQ has been tested during sheep pregnancy. Sheep are animals whose cardiovascular development resembles that of a human baby more closely than laboratory rats and mice. Chicken embryos were also used to isolate the direct effects of MitoQ therapy on the developing heart independent of any influence from the mother or placenta.
Thinking prevention first
Professor Dino Giussani, lead researcher at the University of Cambridge, said:
“If we want to reduce the prevalence of cardiovascular disease, we need to think of prevention rather than a cure. Applying this concept to pregnancy complications, we can bring preventative medicine all the way back into the womb - it’s treatment before birth. It completely changes our way of thinking about heart disease.”
Professor James Leiper, our Associate Medical Director, said:
“Our cardiovascular health is influenced by the lifestyle choices we make in adult life, but can also be traced back to the conditions we experienced when developing inside the womb.
“This study reveals a plausible way to reduce the future risk of high blood pressure and consequent heart disease in babies from complicated pregnancies. Further research is now needed to translate these findings from animals to humans and identify the most effective time in development to give the MitoQ supplement to ‘at risk’ babies – whether that’s a particular point during pregnancy or soon after birth. Overcoming this next hurdle will enable it to be tested in clinical trials.”