Pregnancy-induced hypertension: maternal and neonatal plasma lipid-soluble antioxidant levels and its relationship with fatty acid unsaturation

Abstract

Objective: Our purpose was to investigate whether plasma lipid-soluble antioxidant levels during the third trimester of pregnancy and immediately after birth are altered in women with pregnancy-induced hypertension. Design: Nested case-control study of women with pregnancy-induced hypertension. Subjects: A group of 23 women with (mild) pregnancy-induced hypertension and their neonates, were compared with 23 matched controls with uncomplicated pregnancies. Methods: Concentrations of vitamin E isomers, several carotenoids, and retinol were determined by HPLC in venous plasma which had been stored for 2 ± 5 y. Antioxidant levels were adjusted for the degree of fatty acid unsaturation in plasma phospholipids as analysed 2 ± 5 y before. Results: In the third trimester of pregnancy, lipid-soluble antioxidant levels were similar in women with pregnancy-induced hypertension and controls. From the third trimester to postpartum, mean ( AEs.e.m.) b gtocopherol levels decreased by 0.38 AE0.17 mmolal or 5% (P 0.038) in the control group. In the pregnancyinduced hypertension group, however, plasma levels of most antioxidants decreased from the third trimester to postpartum, but only the decreases in plasma levels of b g-tocopherol of 1.08 AE0.27 mmolal or 26% (P 0.042), of a-tocopherol of 2.51 AE1.58 mmolal or 6% (P 0.024), and of lutein of 0.13 AE0.04 mmolal or 15% (P 0.013) reached statistical signi®cance as compared with the changes in the control group. At the same time, the polyunsaturated fatty acid unsaturation index of plasma phospholipids (UI) decreased in the pregnancyinduced hypertension group as well. Consequently, antioxidant levels, adjusted for UI, changed similarly in both groups. Umbilical vein plasma antioxidant levels were also similar after complicated and uncomplicated pregnancies. Conclusion: Plasma lipid-soluble antioxidant levels in mother and child are affected by mild pregnancy-induced hypertension, but this effect disappears after adjustment for fatty acid unsaturation.

Status of Retinoids and Carotenoids and Associations with Clinical Outcomes in Maternal-Infant Pairs in Nigeria

“…Compared to our study, the levels reported during the third trimester of pregnancy for the Peruvian women were higher in lutein (327 µg/L for the Peruvian women vs. 215 µg/L for the Nigerian women), but the Nigerian women in our study had higher concentrations of α-and β-carotene (1441 vs. 119 ug/L (α-carotene) and 1856 vs 134 ug/L (β-carotene)) for the Nigerian vs. Peruvian women. A study of pregnant women in the Netherlands yielded similar findings, with pregnant women in the Netherlands having similar lycopene and lutein levels to our Nigerian cohort, but concentrations of α- and β-carotene which were less than 10% of the Nigerian women [ 31 ]. The plasma concentration of the pregnant women in the Netherlands closely resembled the concentrations in the U.S. cohort reported in this study.…”

Relationships between Fatty Acid Composition and Insulin–induced Oxidizability of Low–Density Lipoproteins in Healthy Mena

“…Oxidation of LDL is a free‐radical process in which the polyunsat‐urated fatty acids contained in the LDL are degraded by a lipid peroxidation process and the susceptibility of LDL to oxidation depends upon the amount and type of FA present in the LDL particles. Compared to monoenes, n‐6 polyunsaturated FA enhance LDL oxidizability and similar results have been obtained in most studies with n‐3 polyunsaturates 11–14 . Regardless of the effects on LDL oxidizability, both types of polyunsaturated FA have shown a beneficial effect on the development of atherosclerosis 15,16 .…”

Nutritional Gaps and Supplementation in the First 1000 Days

“…Lutein levels in both cord blood and maternal plasma peak during the third trimester, a period of active retinal and neural development [18,19]. Lutein has also been found to be present at higher amounts in cord blood compared to other carotenoids [16,20,21]. Additionally, of the carotenoids present in the placenta, lutein and zeaxanthin were the most prevalent and levels were significantly correlated with levels in maternal serum and infant cord blood [22].…”

“…Therefore, the mother must have adequate lutein consumption to supply her own needs along with the needs of her unborn child. Studies have shown that lutein is not only present and often the predominant carotenoid in the mother's bloodstream during pregnancy, but that lutein concentration typically increases during pregnancy, while levels of other carotenoids remain fairly constant [16,17].…”