Metabolomics analysis of placental tissue obtained from patients with fetal growth restriction

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine whether there was a difference in placental metabolite profiles between patients with fetal growth restriction (FGR) and healthy controls.

Methods: The study included 10 patients with FGR diagnosis with 14 healthy controls with both matched maternal age and body mass index. ¹ H HR-MAS NMR spectroscopy data obtained from placental tissue samples of patients with FGR and healthy control group were analyzed with bioinformatics methods. The obtained results of metabolite levels were further validated with the internal standard (IS) quantification method.

Results: Principal component analysis (PCA) and the partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) score plots obtained with the multivariate statistical analysis of preprocessed spectral data shows a separation between the samples from patients with FGR and healthy controls. Bioinformatics analysis results suggest that the placental levels of lactate, glutamine, glycerophosphocholine, phosphocholine, taurine, and myoinositol are increased in patients with FGR compared to the healthy controls.

Conclusions: Placental metabolic dysfunctions are a common occurrence in FGR.

Keywords: NMR; fetal growth restriction; metabolomics; placenta.