Non-Targeted Plasma Lipidomic Profiling in Late Pregnancy and Early Postpartum Stages: An Observational Comparative...

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry and metabolomics
• Reproductive biology
• Clinical diagnostics

Background:

• Pregnancy involves profound metabolic adaptations, particularly in lipid metabolism, crucial for maternal and fetal well-being.
• Understanding these lipid changes is vital for monitoring maternal health and fetal development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate metabolic alterations during late pregnancy and early postpartum using untargeted lipidomics.
• To identify specific lipid biomarkers that distinguish these two physiological states.

Main Methods:

• Comparative analysis of plasma samples from 65 third-trimester pregnant women and 42 early postpartum women.
• High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (HPLC-MS) for untargeted lipidomic profiling.
• Multivariate and univariate statistical analyses (PLS-DA, ROC) to identify discriminative biomarkers.

Main Results:

• Clear separation between pregnancy and postpartum groups with high classification accuracy (Accuracy=0.90).
• Identification of key lipid biomarkers including 2-Methoxyestrone, Eicosanedioic acid, and Pregnenolone sulfate.
• Biomarkers spanned steroid hormones, fatty acids, lysophospholipids, sphingolipids, and glycerolipids.

Conclusions:

• Untargeted lipidomics effectively differentiates late pregnancy from early postpartum metabolic states.
• Identified lipid biomarkers show potential for maternal health monitoring and risk assessment.
• These findings support the use of lipid profiling in obstetric care and postpartum surveillance.