First-trimester maternal renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system activation and the association with maternal telomere length after natural and IVF/ICSI conceived pregnancies: the Rotterdam periconception cohort

ABSTRACT

Objective

To study associations between the first-trimester maternal determinants of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) activation and telomere length (TL) in pregnancies conceived natural and after IVF/ICSI.

Methods

In 145 pregnancies of the Rotterdam Periconception cohort renin, prorenin and aldosterone concentrations were measured in maternal blood at 9 weeks gestational age (GA). TL was measured by qPCR at 20 weeks GA.

Results

A significantly negative correlation was found between renin and TL, which was attenuated for prorenin but not observed for aldosterone. Maternal TL was significantly shorter in pregnancies conceived after in-vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) compared to natural pregnancies.

Conclusion

The negative association between first-trimester maternal renin and maternal TL, and the shorter maternal TL in women after IVF/ICSI treatment compared to natural pregnancies, substantiates the role of excessive RAAS activation.

KEYWORDS:

• Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system
• telomere length
• oxidative stress
• inflammation
• aging

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Pascal. P. Arp from the Department of Internal Medicine, Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre Rotterdam, the Netherlands, for executing the telomere length measurements. The authors wish to gratefully acknowledge the Rotterdam Periconceptional Cohort team for data acquisition and thank the participants for their contributions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, DAF, upon reasonable request.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10641955.2023.2238086

Additional information

Funding

The department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Bo Hjelt Foundation for Spina Bifida in memory of Madeleine Hjelt provided financial support for the conduct of the study and preparation of the manuscript. The funding source had no involvement in study design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, in the writing of the report nor in the decision to submit this article for publication.