association between adiposity and inflammatory markers in maternal and fetal blood in a group of...

Short Communication Association between adiposity and inflammatory markers in maternal and fetal blood in a group of Mexican pregnant women Rodrigo Vega-Sanchez 1 *, Hector A. Barajas-Vega 1 , Guadalupe Rozada 1 , Aurora Espejel-Nun ˜ ez 2 , Jorge Beltran-Montoya 3 and Felipe Vadillo-Ortega 4 1 Department of Nutrition Research, Instituto Nacional de Perinatologia Isidro Espinosa de los Reyes, Montes Urales 800, Lomas Virreyes, CP 11000 Mexico D.F., Mexico City, Mexico 2 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Instituto Nacional de Perinatologia Isidro Espinosa de los Reyes, Montes Urales 800, Lomas Virreyes, CP 11000 Mexico D.F., Mexico City, Mexico 3 Toco-surgical Unit, Instituto Nacional de Perinatologia Isidro Espinosa de los Reyes, Montes Urales 800, Lomas Virreyes, CP 11000 Mexico D.F., Mexico City, Mexico 4 Department of Experimental Medicine, School of Medicine, UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico (Received 22 September 2009 – Revised 6 March 2010 – Accepted 14 June 2010 – First published online 23 July 2010) In the present pilot study, we evaluated the effect of maternal adiposity on the plasma concentration of adipocytokines in pregnant women and their newborns. Twenty patients with term gestations without labour were initially selected by pregestational BMI and then classified into two study groups (n 10 each), according to their median value of adiposity (total body fat). Concentrations of TNF- a, IL-1b, IL-6, leptin and adiponectin in plasma of maternal peripheral blood and fetal cord blood were measured and correlated to maternal adiposity. Maternal adiposity showed a significant negative correlation with fetal adiponectin ( r 20·587, P¼0·01) and IL-6 ( r 20·466, P¼0·05), a significant positive correlation with maternal leptin (r 0·527, P¼0·02) and no correlation with TNF- a or IL-1b. Adiponectin was higher in fetal plasma than in maternal plasma (P¼0· 043), but sig nifi can tly lower in newborns fro m women wit h hig h adi posit y tha n in newborns fro m women wit h low adi posit y (P¼0·040). Our results suggest that fetuses from obese women may be less able to control inflammation, due to lower circulating anti-inflammatory adipocytokines, which could limit their optimal development or even increase the risk of abortion or preterm labour. Pregnancy: Adiposity: Cytokines: Inflammation: Obesity Obesi ty represents one of the major public health problems wo rl dwide. In Me xi co a lo ne , it af fe ct s al most 70% of people between 30 and 60 years old (1) . Obesity directly contributes to an increase in proinflamma- tory adipocytokines, such as leptin, TNF-a, IL-6 and IL-1b, and a dec rea se in adi ponectin. Alt era tions in the con cen- trations of these cytokines are known to result from greater fat mass (adi posi ty), caus ing the chroni c inflammat ion associated with type 2 diabetes and CVD, among other com- plications (2–4) . In pre gna nt women, obe sit y may exa cer bat e the chr oni c inflammation associate d with gestation, particular ly at term, inc rea sing the mot her ’s ris k of pre senting several compli - cations such as gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, infection and preterm labour, among others (5–7) . Fur the rmore, high concentrations of pro inflammatory cytoki nes can also af fect fetal development by caus ing major al teratio ns in br onchopul monar and neur ol ogical development and predisposing to a number of childhood and adult obesity-related conditions (4,8,9) . However, the impact that greater maternal adiposity might have on the concentrat ion of pro-in flammat ory cytokines in fetal circulat ion is still uncertain. Therefore, the purpo se of the present pilot study was to identify the possible associations between maternal adiposity and the concentration of various pro-inflammatory markers at term gestation both in maternal and fetal circulations. Experimental methods Patient selection The present study was conducted according to the guidelines laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki and all procedures * Corresponding author: Dr R. Vega-Sanchez, fax þ52 55 55200034, email [email protected] Brit ish Journa l of Nutri tion (2010), 104, 1735–1739 doi:10.1017/S0007114510002825 q The Authors 2010 B r i t i s h J o u r n a l o f N u t r i t i o n

association between adiposity and inflammatory markers in maternal and fetal blood in a group of...

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