Association between maternal omega‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids supplementation and preterm delivery: A proteomic study

Abstract

Maternal nutrition during pregnancy influences offspring health. Dietary supplementation of pregnant women with (n-3) long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) was shown to exert beneficial effects on offspring, through yet unknown mechanisms. Here, we conducted a dietary intervention study on a cohort of 10 women diagnosed with threatened preterm labor with a nutritional integration with eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids. Microvesicles (MV) isolated form arterial cord blood of the treated cohort offspring and also of a randomized selection of 10 untreated preterm and 12 term newborns, were characterized by dynamic light scattering and analyzed by proteomic and statistical analysis. Glutathione synthetase was the protein bearing the highest discrimination ability between cohorts. ELISA assay showed that glutathione synthetase was more abundant in cord blood from untreated preterm compared to the other conditions. Assay of free SH-groups showed that serum of preterm subjects was oxidized. Data suggest that preterm suffer from oxidative stress, which was lower in the treated cohort. This study confirms that MV are a representative sample of the individual status and the efficacy of dietary intervention with PUFA in human pregnancy in terms of lowered inflammatory status, increased gestational age and weight at birth. K E Y W O R D Sdocosahexaenoic acids, eicosapentaenoic acids, glutathione synthetase, microvesicles, premature birth | 6323 BRUSCHI et al.

Omega-3 fatty acid supplement use and oxidative stress levels in pregnancy

“…Our results align with those from Jamilian et al who found that n-3 FA supplementation was associated with decreased oxidative stress levels in women with gestational diabetes [17]. Finally, although not directly related, this evidence is also consistent with studies that have examined associations between prenatal n-3 FA supplementation and cord blood or neonatal oxidative stress levels [45][46][47][48]. Animal studies have also observed that maternal n-3 FA supplementation is associated with lower levels of oxidative stress biomarkers in placenta and offspring [42][43][44][49][50][51][52][53][54].…”

Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Status at Birth and Development of Childhood Allergy: A Systematic Review

“…Human studies showed that higher levels of n-3 LCPUFA were associated with reduction in neonatal oxidative stress, reduced production of inflammatory leukotriene B4, and altered T-cell function [9,10]. Inverse correlations between n-3 LCPUFA levels and neonatal T-cell cytokine production were also reported, consistent with data of adult studies showing reduction of T-cell cytokine production with fish oil supplementation [9,11].…”