{"title":"Maternal Obesity Alters Placental and Umbilical Cord Plasma Oxidative Stress, a Cross-Sectional Study.","authors":"Thanyawan Jantape, Kiattisak Kongwattanakul, Silvia M Arribas, Pilar Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Metee Iampanichakul, Wannapa Settheetham-Ishida, Sophida Phuthong","doi":"10.3390/ijms251910866","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Maternal obesity has been shown to impair the oxidative status in the placenta and newborns, potentially leading to adverse pregnancy outcomes and long-term effects on the programming of offspring metabolic status. This study aimed to investigate the impact of maternal obesity on maternal and umbilical cord plasma oxidative status, as well as placental oxidative adaptation. Maternal obesity (<i>n</i> = 20), defined as a pre-pregnancy BMI ≥ 25 kg/m<sup>2</sup>, and maternal leanness (<i>n</i> = 20), defined as a pre-pregnancy BMI < 23 kg/m<sup>2</sup>, were the group categories used in this study. Both groups were matched according to gestational age at delivery. Maternal blood, umbilical cord blood, and placental tissue were collected to assess nutritional content (cholesterol, triglyceride, and protein), oxidative stress markers (MDA and protein carbonyl), and antioxidant activity (SOD and catalase). Placental protein expression (SOD2, catalase, UCP2, and Nrf2) was evaluated using Western blot analysis. Catalase activity in maternal plasma significantly increased in the maternal obesity group (<i>p</i> = 0.0200), with a trend toward increased MDA and protein carbonyl levels. In umbilical cord plasma, triglyceride, protein carbonyl, and catalase activity were significantly elevated in the maternal obesity group compared with the lean controls (<i>p</i> = 0.0482, 0.0291, and 0.0347, respectively). Placental protein expression analysis revealed significantly decreased SOD2 (<i>p</i> = 0.0011) and catalase (<i>p</i> < 0.0001), along with Nrf2 downregulation (<i>p</i> < 0.0001). An increase in mitochondrial antioxidant UCP2 expression was observed (<i>p</i> = 0.0117). The neonatal protein carbonyl levels positively correlated with placental protein carbonyl (r = 0.7405, <i>p</i> < 0.0001) and negatively correlated with maternal catalase activity (r = -0.4332, <i>p</i> = 0.0052). This study thus provides evidence that maternal obesity is associated with placental and fetal oxidative stress, alongside a concurrent increase in placental antioxidant UCP2 expression.</p>","PeriodicalId":14156,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Molecular Sciences","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11477106/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Molecular Sciences","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms251910866","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Maternal obesity has been shown to impair the oxidative status in the placenta and newborns, potentially leading to adverse pregnancy outcomes and long-term effects on the programming of offspring metabolic status. This study aimed to investigate the impact of maternal obesity on maternal and umbilical cord plasma oxidative status, as well as placental oxidative adaptation. Maternal obesity (n = 20), defined as a pre-pregnancy BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2, and maternal leanness (n = 20), defined as a pre-pregnancy BMI < 23 kg/m2, were the group categories used in this study. Both groups were matched according to gestational age at delivery. Maternal blood, umbilical cord blood, and placental tissue were collected to assess nutritional content (cholesterol, triglyceride, and protein), oxidative stress markers (MDA and protein carbonyl), and antioxidant activity (SOD and catalase). Placental protein expression (SOD2, catalase, UCP2, and Nrf2) was evaluated using Western blot analysis. Catalase activity in maternal plasma significantly increased in the maternal obesity group (p = 0.0200), with a trend toward increased MDA and protein carbonyl levels. In umbilical cord plasma, triglyceride, protein carbonyl, and catalase activity were significantly elevated in the maternal obesity group compared with the lean controls (p = 0.0482, 0.0291, and 0.0347, respectively). Placental protein expression analysis revealed significantly decreased SOD2 (p = 0.0011) and catalase (p < 0.0001), along with Nrf2 downregulation (p < 0.0001). An increase in mitochondrial antioxidant UCP2 expression was observed (p = 0.0117). The neonatal protein carbonyl levels positively correlated with placental protein carbonyl (r = 0.7405, p < 0.0001) and negatively correlated with maternal catalase activity (r = -0.4332, p = 0.0052). This study thus provides evidence that maternal obesity is associated with placental and fetal oxidative stress, alongside a concurrent increase in placental antioxidant UCP2 expression.
期刊介绍:
The International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067) provides an advanced forum for chemistry, molecular physics (chemical physics and physical chemistry) and molecular biology. It publishes research articles, reviews, communications and short notes. Our aim is to encourage scientists to publish their theoretical and experimental results in as much detail as possible. Therefore, there is no restriction on the length of the papers or the number of electronics supplementary files. For articles with computational results, the full experimental details must be provided so that the results can be reproduced. Electronic files regarding the full details of the calculation and experimental procedure, if unable to be published in a normal way, can be deposited as supplementary material (including animated pictures, videos, interactive Excel sheets, software executables and others).