Effects of Early Pregnancy on Regional Adipose Tissue Metabolism

Abstract

Adipose tissue metabolism was studied in needle biopsies from femoral and abdominal subcutaneous depots, in 12 healthy young women, during early (9-11 weeks) pregnancy, and 6 weeks after a legal abortion. Both during pregnant and non-pregnant conditions, a higher lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity was seen in the femoral compared to the abdominal region, but the LPL activity was not influenced by early pregnancy. Rates of fatty acid esterification and acylglyceride synthesis were not different between regions, nor affected by pregnancy. The stimulatory effect of norepinephrine (10(-7) M) on lipolysis was significantly greater in the abdominal than in the femoral region in both the pregnant and non-pregnant condition. This difference was apparently due to higher alpha-adrenergic activity in the femoral region. Pregnancy per se had no effect on lipolytic response to norepinephrine. These findings indicate that lipid accumulation is favoured in the femoral region in young women both during pregnant and non-pregnant conditions.

Diet, energy expenditure, and body composition of lactating Ribeirinha women in the brazilian amazon

“…As the site-specific anthropometric measures indicate, the women mobilized fat stores from the lower portion of the body, specifically in the gluteal/femoral region (suprailiac and thigh skinfolds, hip circumference). This finding supports the first hypothesis which was based on laboratory studies indicating that while fat in the gluteal/femoral region is relatively metabolically inert during adolescence and early pregnancy, these same fat depots become more metabolically active during late pregnancy and lactation (Lindberg et al, 1991;Rebuffé-Scrive et al, 1985). Interestingly, the women also exhibited an increase in fat deposition in an upper body skinfold (triceps) during the course of lactation.…”

Adipose tissue function in healthy pregnancy, gestational diabetes mellitus and pre-eclampsia

“…The increase in abdominal fat in pregnancy has been found to be attributable to accumulation of VAT rather than SAT and there is an increase in VAT accumulation throughout gestation even in healthy pregnancy. Regional differences in SAT function were observed in pregnancy, with LPL activity in adipocytes from the femoral region, but not the abdominal region, increasing in pregnant women [ 23 , 24 ]. Adiponectin mRNA expression does not differ between SAT and VAT in pregnant women [ 25 ].…”

Maternal metabolism and obesity: modifiable determinants of pregnancy outcome

“…Excess central fat is also strongly associated with cardiovascular disease and diabetes in adult life (Lapidus et al, 1984;Larsson et al, 1984;Carey et al, 1996;Alberti et al, 2005;de Koning et al, 2007;Vazquez et al, 2007) and in pregnancy with glucose intolerance/gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) (Zhang et al, 1995;Chu et al, 2007a, b, c;Martin et al, 2009) and gestational hypertension/preeclampsia (Sattar et al, 2001). Importantly, although pregnancy influences the site of fat deposition, it does not affect the regional functionality of adipose tissue, explaining the persistence of relationships between central fat and adverse metabolic outcomes (Lindberg et al, 1991). However, as might be anticipated from the increased fat mass, obese pregnant women demonstrate elevated circulating concentrations of leptin and raised levels of inflammatory mediators including IL-6 (Ramsay et al, 2002).…”