title: Gestational age dependent content, composition and intrauterine accretion rates of fatty acids in fetal white adipose tissue.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Little is known about the gestational age (GA) dependent content, composition and intrauterine accretion rates of fatty acids (FA) in fetal white adipose tissue (WAT).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To acquire this information, we collected abdominal subcutaneous WAT samples from 40 preterm and term fetuses. Their GA ranged from 22 to 43 weeks. FA were expressed as mg/g wet WAT and g/100g FA (g%). Intrauterine WAT FA accretion rates were estimated for appropriate (AGA) and large (LGA) for gestational age infants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From 25 to 40 weeks gestation, saturated-FA (SAFA) increased from 83 to 298 mg/g WAT and monounsaturated-FA (MUFA) from 83 to 226 mg/g WAT, while polyunsaturated-FA (PUFA) increased insignificantly from 18.0 to 23.2 mg/g WAT. As percentages of total FA, SAFA increased from 46 to 55 g%, MUFA decreased from 44 to 41 g%, and PUFA from 10.3 to 4.26 g%. Docosahexaenoic (DHA) and arachidonic acid (AA) accretion rates in WAT during the 3rd trimester for AGA infants were 88 and 193 mg/week, respectively. Contemporaneous DHA and AA accretion rates for 4500 g LGA infants were 184 and 402 mg/week, respectively. Compared to the whole 3rd trimester, increment rates during the last 5 weeks of gestation were about 2-fold higher.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  FA accretion rates, notably those of DHA and AA, may be important for designing nutritional regiments for preterm infants. The current WAT-DHA and WAT-AA accretion rates are considerably lower than previously reported in the literature.
authors.affiliation: Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands. remkokuipers@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Remko S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Kuipers
authors.forename: Martine F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Luxwolda
authors.forename: Pieter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Offringa
authors.forename: Ingrid A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Martini
authors.forename: E Rudy
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Boersma
authors.forename: D A Janneke
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Dijck-Brouwer
authors.forename: Frits A J
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Muskiet
mesh_terms: D052436:Adipose Tissue, White / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism*; D016718:Arachidonic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D001724:Birth Weight; D001835:Body Weight; D004281:Docosahexaenoic Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000378:metabolism*; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated; D004281:Docosahexaenoic Acids; D016718:Arachidonic Acid