title: Effects of obesity and gestational diabetes mellitus on placental phospholipids.
abstract: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is associated with adverse effects in the offspring. The composition of placental glycerophospholipids (GPL) is known to be altered in GDM and might reflect an aberrant fatty acid transfer across the placenta and thus affect the foetal body composition. The aim of this study was to investigate possible effects of obesity and GDM, respectively, on placental GPL species composition. We investigated molecular species of phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidylserine (PS) in term placentas from controls (lean non-diabetic, body-mass-index [BMI] 18-24.9k g/m(2), n=31), obese non-diabetics (BMI ≥30 kg/m(2), n=17) and lean diabetics (n=15), using liquid chromatography - triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. PE(16:0/22:6) and PE(18:0/20:4) were increased in GDM and decreased species were PC(18:0/20:3), PC(18:1/20:3) and PS(18:0/18:2). A consistent difference between BMI related changes and changes caused by GDM was not observed. Arachidonic acid percentages of cord blood correlated with placental PC(16:0/20:4), whereas foetal docosahexaenoic acid correlated to placental PE species. Furthermore, a positive correlation of placental weight was found to levels of PE containing arachidonic acid. We demonstrated that obesity and GDM are associated with decreased dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid and increased arachidonic acid and docosahexaenoic acid contents of placental GPL, with unknown consequences for the foetus. PC(16:0/20:4) was identified as the major component for the supply of arachidonic acid to the foetal circulation, whereas PE containing arachidonic acid was found to be associated to the placental and infant growth.
authors.affiliation: Division of Metabolic and Nutritional Medicine, Dr. von Hauner Children's Hospital, University of Munich Medical Center, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Olaf
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Uhl
authors.affiliation: Division of Metabolic and Nutritional Medicine, Dr. von Hauner Children's Hospital, University of Munich Medical Center, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Demmelmair
authors.affiliation: EURISTIKOS Excellence Centre for Paediatric Research, University of Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: María Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Segura
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Granada's University Hospital San Cecilio, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Florido
authors.affiliation: Strategic Research Department, Abbott Nutrition, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rueda
authors.affiliation: EURISTIKOS Excellence Centre for Paediatric Research, University of Granada, Spain; Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Campoy
authors.affiliation: Division of Metabolic and Nutritional Medicine, Dr. von Hauner Children's Hospital, University of Munich Medical Center, Munich, Germany. Electronic address: office.koletzko@med.uni-muenchen.de.
authors.forename: Berthold
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Koletzko
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016640:Diabetes, Gestational / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications / Q000378:metabolism*; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000378:metabolism*; D010920:Placenta / Q000378:metabolism*; D011247:Pregnancy
chemical_list: D010743:Phospholipids
keywords: Gestational diabetes mellitus; Phospholipids; Placenta; Polyunsaturated fatty acids