New Delhi, India

A woman's body undergoes significant changes during pregnancy, including some visible changes such as weight gain, etc. Some changes we don't even see, but they make the gestation period extremely uncomfortable. 

Advertisment

Now in the new study, scientists have mapped out all the drastic changes that happen during pregnancy to the body's metabolic pathways in their research carried out on monkeys. 

The study can help provide a basic understanding of problems faced by women during pregnancy. It will assist doctors in analysing complications such as recurrent miscarriage, pre-eclampsia, and gestational diabetes because of metabolic adjustments. 

The research, titled "A multi-tissue metabolome atlas of primate pregnancy", was published in the journal Cell on Thursday (Feb 1). 

Advertisment

Also read: World Cancer Day: Redefining support for breast cancer patients in India, importance of palliative care 

Using cynomolgus monkeys (Crab-eating macaque), the researchers have constructed a comprehensive multi-tissue metabolome atlas, which is focussed on analysing 273 samples from 23 maternal tissues during pregnancy. 

The samples were taken from 12 captive-bred monkeys – three each that were not pregnant, in early pregnancy (5–8 weeks), in mid-pregnancy (12–15 weeks) and in late pregnancy (18–20 weeks). They took samples from 23 bodily sites, including the uterus, liver, spinal cord, skin, blood and five regions of the heart.

Advertisment

In a report by New Scientist, Shyh-Chang Ng of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing was quoted as saying that tissues throughout the body undergo significant changes during pregnancy. 

Chang said that the heart increases its pumping volume by up to 40 per cent, but the thymus, involved in the immune system, "shrinks away really fast" to prevent rejection of the fetus. 

Also read: Cervical Cancer: Experts talk about preventive measures. A must-read for all women 

Experts have said that outside of pregnancy, different body systems often "feed" each other molecular nutrients, known as metabolites, in a pretty even manner. 

Chang further said that he studied the effects of metabolites on stem cells as he was curious about the role they play in pregnancy. He said that during this time, "A lot of things are growing and regenerating… That's something you only see in cartoons or superhero movies where the person transforms". 

What were the major changes? 

The researchers noticed a decline in metabolic coupling between tissues as pregnancy progressed with time. The core metabolic pathways that were rewired during primate pregnancy included steroidogenesis, fatty acid metabolism, and arachidonic acid metabolism. 

The research showed 91 metabolites changed consistently across all 23 tissues sampled during pregnancy. 

"Our atlas revealed 91 pregnancy-adaptive metabolites changing consistently across 23 tissues, whose roles we verified in human cell models and patient samples," the research noted. 

The study mentioned that the uterus reduced its interactions with the heart and skeletal muscles, instead "coupling" with the developing placenta in the first trimester. 

During the second trimester, the fully developed placenta began transmitting "a whole host of metabolites" to the heart, ovaries, and liver, while the uterus gradually migrated towards coupling with the scalp by the third trimester. Meanwhile, the skeletal muscles had significant exchanges with the spinal cord in late pregnancy. 

(With inputs from agencies)