Maternal Metabolites Indicative of Mental Health Status during Pregnancy

Abstract

Approximately 25% of individuals report poor mental health during their pregnancy or postpartum period, which may impact fetal neurodevelopment, birth outcomes, and maternal behaviors. In the present study, maternal serum samples were collected from pregnancies at 28–32 weeks gestation from the All Our Families (Alberta, Canada) cohort and assessed using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-NMR) and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Individuals with poor mental health at 34–36 weeks gestation were age-matched with mentally healthy pregnant controls. Metabolites were examined against validated self-reported mental health questionnaires for associations with depressive symptoms (Edinburgh Perinatal Depression Scale) and anxiety symptoms (Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory). 1H-NMR metabolites were identified for depression (alanine, leucine, valine, methionine, phenylalanine, glucose, lactate, 3-hydroxybutyrate, and pyruvate) and anxiety (3-hydroxybutyrate). For ICP-MS, antimony and zinc were significant for depression and anxiety, respectively. Upon false discovery rate (FDR) correction at 10%, five 1H-NMR metabolites (alanine, leucine, lactate, glucose, and phenylalanine) for depression remained significantly increased. Although results warrant further validation, the identified metabolites may serve as a predictive tool for assessing mental health during pregnancy as earlier identification has the potential to aid intervention and management of poor mental health symptomology, thus avoiding harmful consequences to both mother and offspring.

Mitochondrial might: powering the peripartum for risk and resilience

“…Psychological symptoms were positively associated with different serum metabolites relevant to energy production, specifically alanine, leucine, phenylalanine, lactate, and glucose, which are involved in glycolysis and the TCA cycle (Laketic et al, 2023). The authors posit that such increases in these metabolites in depressed pregnant individuals may reflect an increase in energy demand (Laketic et al, 2023), which would align with the findings from Kolassa's group as discussed above. Another group conducted transcriptomics (i.e.…”

“…Omics-based approaches (i.e., transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics) analyzing associations between maternal psychological symptoms and different biological pathways have provided complementary findings to the possibility of a mitochondrial role in maternal mental health. For example, Laketic and others recently sought to identify significant metabolic pathways associated with depression and anxiety symptoms in pregnant mothers at mid-gestation (28-32 weeks) (Laketic et al, 2023). Psychological symptoms were positively associated with different serum metabolites relevant to energy production, specifically alanine, leucine, phenylalanine, lactate, and glucose, which are involved in glycolysis and the TCA cycle (Laketic et al, 2023).…”

“…For example, Laketic and others recently sought to identify significant metabolic pathways associated with depression and anxiety symptoms in pregnant mothers at mid-gestation (28-32 weeks) (Laketic et al, 2023). Psychological symptoms were positively associated with different serum metabolites relevant to energy production, specifically alanine, leucine, phenylalanine, lactate, and glucose, which are involved in glycolysis and the TCA cycle (Laketic et al, 2023). The authors posit that such increases in these metabolites in depressed pregnant individuals may reflect an increase in energy demand (Laketic et al, 2023), which would align with the findings from Kolassa's group as discussed above.…”

The Assessment of Neonatal Anthropometric Indices Association with Umbilical Cord Blood Zinc and Magnesium Levels

“…Overall, despite the positive view in correspondence to the association of normal levels of micronutrients including zinc and magnesium for the prevention of adverse pregnancy outcomes,[ 20 21 ] there is no consistent study supporting the idea to administer supplementations for pregnant women to prevent LBW. [ 22 23 ]…”

Maternal Acylcarnitine Disruption as a Potential Predictor of Preterm Birth in Primigravida: A Preliminary Investigation

“…Within the cohort, preterm primigravida were age, pre-pregnancy BMI (kg/m 2 ) and gestational weight-gain matched with those with primigravida term births in a 1:2 ratio for analysis. As mental health is a risk factor for preterm birth [ 14 , 15 ], scores of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Score (STAI) and Edinburgh Perinatal Depression Scale (EPDS), as well as probable depression and anxiety, were also reported.…”