Serum lipids and lipoproteins in alcoholic women during pregnancy

The concentrations of triglyceride, cholesterol, phospholipids, and proteins in the major lipoprotein fractions (very-low-density lipoprotein [VLDL], low-density lipoprotein [LDL], and high-density lipoproteins [HDL] HDL2 and HDL3) were monitored in 20 pregnant women who chronically abused alcohol and in 15 abstinent pregnant women. Five of the alcohol users gave birth to infants with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Lipoproteins were fractionated by sequential flotation from samples taken at 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, and 40 weeks of gestation and 6 to 8 weeks after delivery. In abstinent women, concentrations of VLDL and LDL triglyceride, cholesterol, phospholipids, and proteins increased in late gestation. Concentrations of HDL2-cholesterol, phospholipids, proteins, and total HDL2 were increased during the 16th to 28th weeks, but HDL3 remained unchanged. Alcohol abuse clearly reduced the normal increase in total and LDL-cholesterol, as well as in LDL phospholipids, proteins, and total LDL during the 24th to 40th weeks. LDL changes were most pronounced in alcoholic women who later produced FAS infants. Alcohol abuse also increased HDL3. Furthermore, in alcohol users, the normal increase in VLDL was accentuated, especially so in women with FAS infants, and that of HDL2 was reduced. The significance of the changes found remains obscure, but they may be related to impaired function of the fetoplacental unit.