Romanowicz Lech, Bańkowski Edward
Department of Medical Biochemistry, Medical University of Białystok, Poland.
Biochimie. 2009 Feb;91(2):288-94. doi: 10.1016/j.biochi.2008.10.004. Epub 2008 Oct 18.
The lipid composition of vascular walls changes during development, ageing and pathological processes. Preeclampsia is the most common pregnancy-associated pathological syndrome. It is accompanied by significant remodelling of the extracellular matrix, both in the umbilical cord vessels and in the surrounding Wharton's jelly. Lipids of the umbilical cord have not been extensively studied. Here we evaluate the lipid composition of the umbilical cord vein and its alteration in preeclampsia. Thin layer chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography were employed for these analyses. It was found that the umbilical cord vein wall, as with most human tissues, contains free fatty acids, mono-, di- and triacylglycerols, free cholesterol and its esters. The characteristic feature is the presence of high amounts of monounsaturated fatty acids, mainly myristoleic acid (C14:1) and oleic acid (C18:1), and polyunsaturated fatty acids, including eicosapentaenoic acid (C20:5) and docosahexaenoic acid (C22:6), which are rather minor lipid components of most human tissues. They exist both in a free form and in a form of acylglycerols and cholesterol esters. Preeclampsia is associated with an increase in the accumulation of free fatty acids, acylglycerols and cholesterol esters in the umbilical cord vein wall, with a proportional reduction in unsaturated fatty acid contents in all the investigated lipid fractions. Total amount of myristoleate was similar to control values. It is suggested that stimulation of lipolysis in maternal tissues increases supply of free fatty acids to foetal blood and promotes the accumulation fatty acids and their esters in some foetal vascular walls.
血管壁的脂质组成在发育、衰老和病理过程中会发生变化。先兆子痫是最常见的妊娠相关病理综合征。它伴随着细胞外基质的显著重塑，在脐带血管和周围的华通氏胶中均是如此。脐带的脂质尚未得到广泛研究。在此，我们评估脐带静脉的脂质组成及其在先兆子痫中的变化。采用薄层色谱法和高效液相色谱法进行这些分析。结果发现，与大多数人体组织一样，脐带静脉壁含有游离脂肪酸、单酰甘油、二酰甘油和三酰甘油、游离胆固醇及其酯类。其特征是存在大量单不饱和脂肪酸，主要是肉豆蔻油酸（C14:1）和油酸（C18:1），以及多不饱和脂肪酸，包括二十碳五烯酸（C20:5）和二十二碳六烯酸（C22:6），而这些在大多数人体组织中是含量较少的脂质成分。它们以游离形式以及酰基甘油和胆固醇酯的形式存在。先兆子痫与脐带静脉壁中游离脂肪酸、酰基甘油和胆固醇酯的积累增加有关，所有研究的脂质组分中不饱和脂肪酸含量相应减少。肉豆蔻酸盐的总量与对照值相似。有人认为，母体组织中脂肪分解的刺激会增加向胎儿血液中游离脂肪酸的供应，并促进脂肪酸及其酯类在一些胎儿血管壁中的积累。
