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Impact of maternal BMI and gestational diabetes mellitus on maternal and cord blood metabolome: results from the PREOBE cohort study

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Abstract

Aims

Maternal obesity and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) were frequently reported to be risk factors for obesity and diabetes in offspring. Our goal was to study the impact of maternal prepregnancy BMI (pBMI) and GDM on both maternal and cord blood metabolic profiles.

Methods

We used LC–MS/MS to measure 201 metabolites comprising phospholipids (PL), amino acids, non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), organic acids, acyl carnitines (AC), and Krebs cycle metabolites in maternal plasma at delivery and cord plasma obtained from 325 PREOBE study participants.

Results

Several metabolites were associated with pBMI/GDM in both maternal and cord blood (p < 0.05), while others were specific to either blood sources. BMI was positively associated with leucine, isoleucine, and inflammation markers in both mother and offspring, while β-hydroxybutyric acid was positively associated only in cord blood. GDM showed elevated levels of sum of hexoses, a characteristic finding in both maternal and cord blood. Uniquely in cord blood of offspring born to GDM mothers, free carnitine was significantly lower with the same tendency observed for AC, long-chain NEFA, PL, specific Krebs cycle metabolites, and β-oxidation markers.

Conclusions

Maternal BMI and GDM are associated with maternal and cord blood metabolites supporting the hypothesis of transgenerational cycle of obesity and diabetes.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the study participants, the obstetricians, paediatricians and technicians of the EURISTIKOS team, and the PREOBE team at the University of Granada. We are grateful to Stephanie Winterstetter, Alexander Haag and Tina Honsowitz for their support in the analysis. The data presented are part of the PhD thesis by Linda Marchioro at the Medical Faculty, LMU.

Funding

This work was supported by Andalusian Ministry of Economy, Science and Innovation, PREOBE Excellence Project (Ref. P06-CTS-02341), Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Ref. BFU2012-40254-C03-01 and Ref. SAF2015-69265-C2-2-R), the European Research Council Advanced Grant META-GROWTH (ERC-2012-AdG 322605), European Commission research projects EarlyNutrition, FP7-FP7 KBBE-2011-1 (289346 y) and Horizon2020 DynaHEALTH (633595).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Metabolic and Nutritional Medicine, Dr. von Hauner Children’s Hospital, LMU-Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, University of Munich Medical Centre, Campus Innenstadt, Lindwurmstr. 4, 80337, Munich, Germany

    Engy Shokry, Linda Marchioro, Olaf Uhl & Berthold Koletzko

  2. Department of Paediatrics, School of Medicine, EURISTIKOS Excellence Centre for Paediatric Research, University of Granada, Avenida de la Investigación 11, 18016, Granada, Spain

    Mercedes G. Bermúdez, Jose Antonio García-Santos, Mª Teresa Segura & Cristina Campoy

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  1. Engy Shokry
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  2. Linda Marchioro
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  3. Olaf Uhl
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  4. Mercedes G. Bermúdez
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  5. Jose Antonio García-Santos
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  6. Mª Teresa Segura
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Correspondence to Berthold Koletzko.

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All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the bioethical Committees for clinical research of the Clinical University Hospital San Cecilio, the Mother-Infant University Hospital of Granada, and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008.

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Written informed consent was obtained from all participants at the study entry.

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Shokry, E., Marchioro, L., Uhl, O. et al. Impact of maternal BMI and gestational diabetes mellitus on maternal and cord blood metabolome: results from the PREOBE cohort study. Acta Diabetol 56, 421–430 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00592-019-01291-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00592-019-01291-z

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