Samenvatting :
It is believed that environmental factors and maternal lifestyle during the prenatal period can be related to fetal health and may influence human aging in later life. In order to monitor whether such conditions truly affect human aging, telomere length (also abbreviated as TL) at different ages of human life can be measured. The aim of this project was to evaluate whether telomere length at birth is a predictor of later life telomere length and whether environmental factors and maternal lifestyle in early life play a role in early life telomere length and their changes during the first decades of life.
In a first part of the study, telomere length was measured on cord blood samples (birth, n=18) of participants from the Environmental Influences ON Early Aging (ENVIRONAGE) birth cohort study and blood samples (women at age 42.5 ± 13.4) of participants from the ENDOAfrica study (n=18) to see whether telomere length changes with age. After DNA extraction, DNA concentration measurements and sample dilutions, a real-time quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) was performed to determine the relative telomere length (RTL). Agarose gel electrophoresis was run to control the quality and integrity of extracted DNA. This research showed that ENDOAfrica RTL values were lower, with the average 0.81 ± 0.04, whereas for ENVIRONAGE it was 1.17 ± 0.05 (P<0.0001), that proved that telomere length shortens with age.
In a second part of the study, available raw data from the ENVIRONAGE study collected after the qPCR was used for determination of RTL at birth (cord blood TL, placenta TL) and RTL at the age of 4-years from the same individuals (n=177). Telomere length at birth and follow-up was used to evaluate whether newborn telomere length predicts later life telomere length. In addition, available information concerning maternal lifestyle and the place of the residence was used to associate the environmental impact on the child’s telomere length at birth and at 4 years follow-up. Performed statistics showed that newborns that are born with shorter telomere length displayed shorter telomere length after 4 years follow-up, whereas children born with longer - remain having longer telomere length. This proved that telomere length at birth is a predictor of later life telomere length. Statistical analysis confirmed that nature buffer of the participant’s place of residence is positively associated with children telomere length, whereas industry proximity – negatively. Moreover, maternal smoking status during pregnancy, proved to negatively associated the telomere length. This research confirms that the environmental exposures and maternal lifestyle during the prenatal life influence molecular ageing at birth and early life of children.
Keywords
DNA concentration measurements, DNA extraction, ENVIRONAGE (Environmental Influences ON Early Aging), environmental factors, lifestyle, land use indicators, qPCR, telomeres, telomere length, telomere tracking
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