Scientists make map of how organs interact and change during pregnancy

Scientists have unveiled the intricate metabolic transformations that occur in various body parts throughout a primate’s pregnancy.

This research could shed light on the origins of pregnancy-related complications such as pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes, which may stem from disruptions in these metabolic adjustments.

Typically, bodily systems maintain a balanced exchange of molecular nutrients, or metabolites. However, during pregnancy, this equilibrium is significantly altered.

For example, while the heart’s pumping volume can surge by up to 40%, the thymus rapidly diminishes in size to prevent foetal rejection.

Shyh-Chang Ng from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, intrigued by the impact of metabolites on stem cells, explored their role during the transformative phase of pregnancy.

Ng’s team analysed 273 tissue samples from 12 crab-eating macaques (Macaca fascicularis) across various pregnancy stages and compared them to non-pregnant states. The samples spanned 23 different sites, including the uterus, liver, spinal cord, skin, blood, and multiple heart regions.

WHAT DID THEY FIND?

The findings, published in the journal Cell, were astonishing: during non-pregnancy, metabolite sharing was relatively uniform, but pregnancy reprogrammed this exchange dramatically.

In early pregnancy, the uterus reduces its interactions with the heart and skeletal muscles, instead forming a close relationship with the developing placenta. By the second trimester, the fully developed placenta began distributing a wide array of metabolites to the heart, ovaries, and liver.

As the pregnancy progressed, the uterus started to align more closely with the scalp, while the skeletal muscles increased their exchanges with the spinal cord.