Project name: Macaca nemestrina

Description: Uterine stretch is thought to induce preterm labor in women with twin and higher order pregnancies, but the pathophysiology remains unclear. We investigated the pathogenesis of stretch-induced preterm birth for the first time in a pregnant nonhuman primate model.Overall design: Eleven chronically catheterized pregnant monkeys (Macaca nemestrina) at 118-125 days gestation (term=172 days) received either: 1) inflation of intra-amniotic balloons (N=6) or 2) saline inoculation (N=5). Cesarean section and fetal necropsy was performed due to preterm labor or to collect tissues, except in one case where the animal delivered spontaneously, reducing samples for microarray analysis to ten (five stretch and five control animals). Amniotic fluid and maternal plasma were analyzed for multiple cytokines and prostaglandins using Luminex, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Analysis of Covariance. Ribonucleic acid was extracted from the myometrium in the lower uterus at Cesarean section and analyzed by microarray and quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction.

Data type: Transcriptome or Gene expression

Sample scope: Multiisolate

Relevance: ModelOrganism

Last updated: 2014-11-13