Effects of Maternal Ageing on Developmental Defects in Mice

Abstract

In relation to maternal age reproductive performance and embryonic chromosome constitution were investigated in CF#1 mice. Decreased pregnancy rate and litter-size reduction occurred with advancing maternal age. Among 446 day-10.5 embryos obtained from 77 pregnant females aged 2-16 months old, 13 (2.9%) had aneuploidy and 4 (0.9%) triploidy, respectively. An increase of aneuploidy was found with advancing maternal age, but the production of triploidy was not related to maternal age.