Cardiovascular Risk Unit, Consorcio, Hospital General, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
J Transl Med. 2012 Jul 9;10:142. doi: 10.1186/1479-5876-10-142.
Low birth weight has been linked to an increased risk to develop obesity, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension in adult life, although the mechanisms underlying the association are not well understood. The objective was to determine whether the metabolomic profile of plasma from umbilical cord differs between low and normal birth weight newborns.
Fifty healthy pregnant women and their infants were selected. The eligibility criteria were being born at term and having a normal pregnancy. Pairs were grouped according to their birth weight: low birth weight (LBW, birth weight < 10th percentile, n = 20) and control (control, birth weight between the 75th-90th percentiles, n = 30). Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) was used to generate metabolic fingerprints of umbilical cord plasma samples. Simultaneously, the metabolomic profiles of the mothers were analysed. The resulting data were subjected to chemometric, principal component and partial least squares discriminant analyses.
Umbilical cord plasma from LBW and control newborns displayed a clearly differentiated metabolic profile. Seven metabolites were identified that discriminate the LBW from the control group. LBW newborns had lower levels of choline, proline, glutamine, alanine and glucose than did the control newborns, while plasma levels of phenylalanine and citrulline were higher in LBW newborns (p < 0.05). No significant differences were found between the two groups of mothers.
Low birth weight newborns display a differential metabolomic profile than those of normal birth weight, a finding not present in the mothers. The meaning and the potential utility of the findings as biomarkers of risk need to be addressed in future studies.
低出生体重与成年后患肥胖、2 型糖尿病和高血压的风险增加有关，但两者之间关联的机制尚不清楚。本研究旨在确定脐带血血浆的代谢组学特征是否在低出生体重和正常出生体重的新生儿之间存在差异。
选择了 50 名健康孕妇及其婴儿。入选标准为足月分娩且妊娠正常。根据出生体重将新生儿分为两组：低出生体重组（LBW，出生体重低于第 10 百分位，n = 20）和对照组（出生体重位于第 75-90 百分位，n = 30）。采用核磁共振（NMR）技术生成脐带血血浆样本的代谢指纹图谱。同时分析母亲的代谢组学特征。对所得数据进行化学计量学、主成分和偏最小二乘判别分析。
LBW 和对照组新生儿的脐带血血浆显示出明显不同的代谢特征。鉴定出 7 种可区分 LBW 与对照组的代谢物。LBW 组新生儿的胆碱、脯氨酸、谷氨酰胺、丙氨酸和葡萄糖水平低于对照组，而苯丙氨酸和瓜氨酸的血浆水平则高于对照组（p < 0.05）。两组母亲之间未发现显著差异。
LBW 新生儿的代谢组学特征与正常出生体重的新生儿不同，而母亲则没有这种差异。这些发现作为风险的生物标志物的意义和潜在应用需要在未来的研究中进一步探讨。
