van Houwelingen A C, Foreman-van Drongelen M M, Nicolini U, Nicolaides K H, Al M D, Kester A D, Hornstra G
Department of Human Biology, Limburg University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Early Hum Dev. 1996 Sep 20;46(1-2):141-52. doi: 10.1016/0378-3782(96)01753-7.
Hardly any direct information is available on the essential fatty acid (EFA) status of the fetus during intrauterine development. Therefore, we studied 86 umbilical plasma samples obtained by trans-abdominal puncture during ongoing pregnancies (18.3-39.0 weeks of gestational age). These were compared with 51 samples of umbilical cord blood, collected immediately after birth (gestational ages, 28.5-39 weeks). The total amounts of fatty acids in fetal plasma phospholipids (mg/l) did not change during gestation. The relative amounts of linoleic acid (% of total fatty acids) showed a slight increase (P = 0.03) during fetal maturation. Arachidonic acid (20:4n-6) decreased (both absolute (mg/l) and relative (% wt/wt) P < or = 0.0001), while docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3) increased (absolute P < 0.003, relative P < 0.0001) when pregnancy progressed. The EFA profiles of fetal samples were in general comparable with postnatal results of infants born at similar gestational ages. However, the fetal linoleic acid status was lower than the linoleic acid status of the neonates. The same was true for the overall EFA status. The results of this study indicate that the low EFA status observed in preterm infants at birth, is a developmentally related phenomenon.
关于胎儿在子宫内发育期间必需脂肪酸（EFA）状况的直接信息几乎没有。因此，我们研究了在妊娠期间（孕龄18.3 - 39.0周）通过经腹穿刺获得的86份脐血浆样本。将这些样本与出生后立即采集的51份脐带血样本（孕龄28.5 - 39周）进行比较。胎儿血浆磷脂中脂肪酸的总量（mg/l）在妊娠期间没有变化。亚油酸的相对含量（占总脂肪酸的百分比）在胎儿成熟过程中略有增加（P = 0.03）。随着妊娠进展，花生四烯酸（20:4n - 6）减少（绝对含量（mg/l）和相对含量（% wt/wt）均P≤0.0001），而二十二碳六烯酸（22:6n - 3）增加（绝对含量P < 0.003，相对含量P < 0.0001）。胎儿样本的必需脂肪酸谱总体上与相似孕龄出生婴儿的产后结果相当。然而，胎儿的亚油酸状况低于新生儿的亚油酸状况。总体必需脂肪酸状况也是如此。本研究结果表明，早产儿出生时观察到的低必需脂肪酸状况是一种与发育相关的现象。
