Effect of Gestational Diabetes on Circulating Levels of Maternal and Neonatal Carnitine

Abstract

Objectives: Free carnitine is reported to decrease in normal pregnancies whereas data on the effect of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) on maternal and offspring carnitine status are lacking. This study aimed to assess changes in carnitine status in mothers with GDM and the offspring. Subjects/methods:Prospective case-control study of 54 pairs of mothers -neonates (27 with GDM and 27 with normal pregnancies) and 26 non-pregnant controls. Serum glucose, lipids, and total fatty acids, blood β-hydroxybutyric acid, and whole blood carnitine were assessed in mothers before labor and neonates at birth. Carnitine was assessed in dried blood-spots on Guthrie paper using Tandem Mass Spectrometry.Results: Compared to the controls, both groups of mothers had lower free carnitine and acylcarnitine and higher triglyceride and fatty acid levels. Compared to their respective maternal group, both groups of neonates had significantly higher free carnitine and acylcarnitine and lower triglyceride and fatty acid levels. Free carnitine and acylcarnitine, were comparable between the two maternal groups, whereas they were significantly higher in neonates of GDM mothers versus healthy neonates. Conclusions:Well controlled GDM does not exacerbate changes in free carnitine, acylcarnitine, and fatty acid levels in pregnant women, albeit it is associated with increased carnitine in the newborn indicating enhanced fatty acid oxidation. The potential association of carnitine changes with macrosomia and long-term consequences in the offspring of GDM needs further investigation. increased in neonates born to mothers with uncomplicated pregnancies [6,11], whereas there are no published data on the effect of GDM on the neonatal carnitine levels. The primary aim of this study was to assess the effect of GDM on maternal and offspring's carnitine levels. In addition, we investigated the possible association between circulating carnitine levels and FA changes in the mothers and their neonates. Effect of Gestational Diabetes on Circulating Levels of Maternal and Subjects and MethodsThis is a prospective case-control study. Participants were recruited among pregnant women who attended the antenatal clinic of the 2 nd Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, at the Hippokration General Hospital, during a twoyear period. Eligible for the study were all pregnant women with single pregnancies who had an abnormal glucose tolerance test at 26-28 weeks of gestation and no history of pre-gestational diabetes. An

Impact of Serum level of L-Carnitine on Chitotriosidase in Women with Gestational Diabetes Compared to T2DM Pregnant & Non Pregnant Iraqi Women

“…According to our study the results showed that GDM was associated with increased cholesterol Figure 1. This is what was previously confirmed 35 .…”

A longitudinal study of plasma acylcarnitines throughout pregnancy and associations with risk of gestational diabetes mellitus

“…Another prospective study did not observe significant association of total acylcarnitine concentrations with GDM risk. However, association of individual acylcarnitine species with GDM were not disentangled in this study [16]. Taken together, it calls for longitudinal investigation of individual acylcarnitine species throughout pregnancy to advance our understanding of their potentially distinct pathophysiologic roles in the development of GDM.…”

“…Although findings from several emerging studies were promising, inferences were hindered by cross-sectional design and small sample sizes [12e14]. We are aware of only two prospective studies to date [15,16]. One study associated three short-chain carnitine esters, C2, C4 and IsoC4, with the risk of GDM prospectively; however, only a few selected esters were measured in this study [15].…”

Analytical challenges of untargeted GC-MS-based metabolomics and the critical issues in selecting the data processing strategy

“…However, the majority of individual NEFAs was not significantly different between the GDM cases and controls. It was concluded that the differences in the maternal plasma NEAF composition between the GDM cases and the healthy controls were very subtle 37 , and our analysis had reached a limit of untargeted GC-MS analysis with the selected data normalisation methods. By using targeted GC-MS analysis, Chen, et al ., reported that the concentrations of NEFAs in maternal serum had a “graded” (or incremental) relationship with the severity of maternal hyperglycaemia 38 .…”