Lipid peroxidation and biochemical parameters in maternal pre-delivery and post-delivery plasma

Abstract

Lipid peroxidation (LPX) can play an important role in development of functional and pathological changes of maternal tissues in the course of pregnancy and delivery. LPX products were measured as thiobarbituric acid reacting substances (TBARS), using malondialdehyde as the standard solution. Actual TBARS determined in maternal post-delivery plasma (2.71 ± 0.602 nmol/mL) were not statistically different from those determined in pre-delivery plasma (3.45 ± 0.530 nmol/mL). TBARS production was measured in vitro in the both incubated plasma (30 min, 37• C) with and without the added LPX activator (125 µM L-ascorbate plus 5 µM FeSO4). A difference in the TBARS formation was found only in the post-delivery plasma, as a result of approximately twice higher (marginally significant) TBARS formation in the incubated plasma without the added LPX activator comparing with the actual TBARS levels in this plasma. These results suggest that changes in maternal tissues in the process of labour could create suitable conditions for activation of LPX in maternal plasma. On the other hand, all other analysed biochemical parameters (iron, total iron-binding capacity, uric acid, proteins, magnesium, calcium, phosphate, glucose, potassium, sodium, chlorides, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, γ-glutamyltransferase, creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, α-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase, α-amylase, alkaline phosphatase, acid phosphatase in the post-delivery plasma were not different from those analysed in the pre-delivery plasma.

Lipid indexes and parameters of lipid peroxidation during physiological pregnancy

“…There is a great body of evidence that pregnancy is a physiological condition exhibiting a high susceptibility to oxidative stress development [23]. Increased oxidative stress leads to oxidative modifications of lipids, and lipid peroxidation is considered the cause of complications in pregnancy, especially in the development of preeclampsia [2,11,13,19,20]. In our study, during physiological pregnancy without complications, the examined parameters of oxidative stress have shown the following characteristics: LOOH and PAB increased significantly in early pregnancy compared to the value in the control group of non-pregnant women (Table 4).…”

“…They are important for the normal course of pregnancy and fetal development. When the balance with the antioxidant system is disturbed, oxidative stress in pregnancy may lead to serious complications, such as preeclampsia, gestational diabetes mellitus, IUGR, miscarriage and preterm birth [2,11]. Increase in oxidative stress is associated with abnormal lipid profile and may cause oxidative modification of lipids, so the studies which were conducted in complicated pregnancies also showed increased concentrations of lipid peroxides [2,12,13].…”