Shortened life span in mice generated by in vitro fertilization

Abstract

In humans assisted reproductive technologies (ART) induce generalized vascular dysfunction in children. In line with this observation, ART induces vascular dysfunction and arterial hypertension in mice that is related to an epigenetic mechanism, but the long term consequences are unknown. To address this problem, we compared the long term survival of ART and control mice fed a normal chow diet (NC) or challenged with a high‐fat diet (HFD).80 male FVB mice generated by ART and 80 control mice born and raised in our animal facility were observed in these studies. Three to four animals were placed in a cage in the clean conventional mouse facility. 6 ART and 7 control mice had to be sacrificed because of injuries related to fighting. 32 ART and 20 control mice were fed NC, 42 ART mice and 53 control mice were fed a HFD (49.5% fat, 31.5% protein and 0% carbohydrate). Kaplan‐Meier survival curves were constructed using known birth and death dates and the log‐rank test was used to evaluate statistical differences between groups.We found that in mice fed with NC the life span was similar in the two groups. In contrast, HFD, while not having a detectable effect on life span in control mice, reduced the survival in ART‐mice by roughly 25%(P<0.0001).ART is associated with a marked reduction of the life span in normal mice challenged with a Western style high‐fat diet.