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Updated: Oct 2, 2025
Untargeted Metabolomics from Biological Sources Using Ultraperformance Liquid Chromatography-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry UPLC-HRMS
Published on: May 20, 2013
Vertical Transfer of Metabolites Detectable from Newborn's Dried Blood Spot Samples Using UPLC-MS: A Chemometric
Alessandra Olarini1, Madeleine Ernst2, Gözde Gürdeniz3
1Section of Chemometrics and Analytical Technologies, Department of Food Science, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 26, 1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
Insights
Maternal blood metabolomics reveal transfer of environmental and food metabolites to newborns. These compounds persist through childhood, potentially impacting long-term health outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Perinatal and developmental biology
- Metabolomics and exposure science
- Human cohort studies
Background:
- The mother-infant dyad shares environmental exposures and nutrient intake during pregnancy and early life.
- Assessing the blood metabolome offers insights into this critical developmental window.
- Dried blood spots (DBS) provide a minimally invasive method for newborn metabolic profiling.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the vertical transfer of metabolites from mother to child.
- To determine the persistence of these transferred metabolites in children up to age 6.
- To understand the role of maternal-fetal exposure in early development.
Main Methods:
- Utilized metabolomics profiles from newborn DBS and maternal plasma (n=664) from the COPSAC2010 cohort.
- Analyzed 272 metabolites using Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-MS).
- Employed correlation analysis to assess metabolite transfer and persistence over time.
Main Results:
- Identified 11 metabolites showing evidence of maternal-to-newborn transfer (correlation coefficient R>0.3).
- Key transferred metabolites include tryptophan betaine, ergothioneine, cotinine, theobromine, paraxanthine, and N6-methyllysine.
- Seven of these transferred metabolites demonstrated persistence in children from birth to 6 years of age.
Conclusions:
- This study confirms the vertical transfer of environmental and food-derived metabolites from mothers to their children.
- Documented the persistence of these metabolites throughout childhood, highlighting their tracking.
- These findings suggest potential implications for infant health and disease risk later in life.
Abstract:
The pregnancy period and first days of a newborn's life is an important time window to ensure a healthy development of the baby. This is also the time when the mother and her baby are exposed to the same environmental conditions and intake of nutrients, which can be determined by assessing the blood metabolome. For this purpose, dried blood spots (DBS) of newborns are a valuable sampling technique to characterize what happens during this important mother-child time window. We used metabolomics profiles from DBS of newborns (age 2-3 days) and maternal plasma samples at gestation week 24 and postpartum week 1 from n=664 mother-child pairs of the Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood 2010 (COPSAC2010) cohort, to study the vertical mother-child transfer of metabolites. Further, we investigated how persistent the metabolites are from the newborn and up to 6 months, 18 months, and 6 years of age. Two hundred seventy two metabolites from UPLC-MS (Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry) analysis of DBS and maternal plasma were analyzed using correlation analysis. A total of 11 metabolites exhibited evidence of transfer (R>0.3), including tryptophan betaine, ergothioneine, cotinine, theobromine, paraxanthine, and N6-methyllysine. Of these, 7 were also found to show persistence in their levels in the child from birth to age 6 years. In conclusion, this study documents vertical transfer of environmental and food-derived metabolites from mother to child and tracking of those metabolites through childhood, which may be of importance for the child's later health and disease.
