Researchers usually rely on lab mice in their scientific researches aimed at uncovering the secrets of some diseases affecting human beings, because mice are so much like humans when it comes to organ anatomy. However, this time, a mice-free British study managed to prove that heart diseases can start from the womb.
The study, conducted by a team of researchers from Cambridge University, and published in the journal PLOS Biology on January 22, found that offspring of mothers who live a complicated pregnancy, are at higher risk of having heart diseases later in life.
Dr. Dino Giussani, the study lead author, told Asharq Al-Awsat: "When working with animal samples to study diseases such as impaired prenatal cardiovascular function, the chronological appearance of cardiovascular growth between species is very important to mimic what happens in the human clinical situation."
"Mice are of moderate size and are born prematurely. The development of their cardiovascular system is usually completed in the second week after birth. By contrast, sheep and humans share similar aspects of cardiovascular growth. Some sheep breeds, such as the Mount Wales sheep, primarily give birth to single lambs of the same weight as a human infant, and are specifically selected for this research because the results can be applied on the human," he added.
During the study, the team tested a complex pregnancy with chronic hypoxia, and found that the offspring of sheep, whose mothers suffered from the problem, had increased indicators of cardiovascular diseases, such as high blood pressure.
