Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Our purpose was to determine whether maternal amino acid concentration changes during
gestation in pregnancies with intrauterine growth restriction as in normal pregnancies
and to verify whether these changes are related to changes in fetal-maternal differences.
STUDY DESIGN: Amino acid concentrations were measured in 5 nonpregnant women, in 11 second-trimester
and 10 third-trimester pregnant women with appropriate-for-gestational-age fetuses,
and in 23 pregnant women with intrauterine growth restriction. Umbilical venous amino
acids were measured at the time of fetal blood sampling. The severity of intrauterine
growth restriction was assessed by Doppler velocimetry and fetal heart rate and by
evaluation of oxygenation and acid-base balance. RESULTS: In normal pregnant women the maternal concentration of most amino acids was significantly
lower in both the second and third trimesters compared with nonpregnant women. In
intrauterine growth restriction the maternal concentrations of most essential amino
acids were significantly higher than in appropriate-for-gestational-age pregnancies.
This observation, coupled with lower fetal amino acid concentrations in intrauterine
growth restriction, leads to significantly lower fetal-maternal differences. CONCLUSIONS: Normal pregnant women have a significant decrease in amino acid concentrations compared
with nonpregnant women, whereas in intrauterine growth restriction maternal amino
acids are reduced less. Significantly lower fetal-maternal concentration differences
are present in intrauterine growth restriction, independent of the degree of severity.
(AM J OBSTET GYNECOL 1996;174:1575-83.)
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to American Journal of Obstetrics & GynecologyAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- The plasma amino acid and amino nitrogen concentration during normal pregnancy, labor and early puerperium.J Biol Chem. 1947; 168: 345-352
- Free amino acids in plasma throughout pregnancy.AM J OBSTET GYNECOL. 1978; 131: 490-499
- Maternal and fetal plasma amino acid concentrations during gestation and in retarded fetal growth.J Obstet Gynaecol Br Commonw. 1969; 76: 333-344
- Relationship between neonatal birth weight and maternal plasma amino acid profiles in lean and obese nondiabetic women and in type 1 diabetic pregnant women.Metabolism. 1988; 37: 234-239
- The influence of pre-eclampsia and diabetes mellitus on plasma free amino acids in maternal, umbilical vein and infant blood.J Obstet Gynaecol Br Commonw. 1971; 78: 215-231
- Relationship of maternal amino acids and proteins to fetal growth and mental development.AM J OBSTET GYNECOL. 1975; 123: 398-407
- Relationship of maternal amino acid profiles at 25 weeks of gestation to fetal growth.Am J Clin Nutr. 1978; 31: 401-407
- Umbilical amino acid concentrations in normal and growth-retarded fetuses sampled in utero by cordocentesis.AM J OBSTET GYNECOL. 1990; 162: 253-261
- Plasma amino acids in appropriate and small-for-gestational-age fetuses.AM J OBSTET GYNECOL. 1989; 161: 1219-1227
- Umbilical vein-artery uterine arterio-venous plasma amino acid differences (in the human subject).J Obstet Gynaecol Br Commonw. 1969; 76: 404-411
- Umbilical amino acid concentrations in appropriate- and small-for-gestational-age infants: a biochemical difference present in utero.AM J OBSTET GYNECOL. 1988; 158: 120-126
- Fetal blood sampling during pregnancy with use of a needle guided by ultrasound: a study of 606 consecutive cases.AM J OBSTET GYNECOL. 1985; 153: 655-660
- Diagnostic value of blood sampling in fetuses with growth retardation.N Engl J Med. 1993; 328: 692-696
- Sampling of arterialized heated-hand venous blood as a non-invasive technique for the study of ketone body kinetics in man.Metabolism. 1982; 31: 1-5
- Fitting growth curves to head and abdomen measurements of the fetus: a multicentric study.J Clin Ultrasound. 1987; 15: 95-105
- Standard di peso alla nascita in Italia.Ann Ost Ginecol Med Perin. 1991; 112: 203-246
- Midgestation cord sampling: what have we learned.Placenta. 1992; 13: 115-122
- Continuous wave ultrasound as an alternative and complement to x-rays in vascular examinations.in: Cardiovascular applications of ultrasound. North Holland, Amsterdam1974: 266-282
- Ultrasonographic placental volume measurement to predict fetal outcome.in: A critical appraisal of fetal surveillance. Elsevier Science, Amsterdam1994: 430-436
Article Info
Publication History
Accepted:
November 10,
1995
Received in revised form:
March 23,
1995
Received:
January 18,
1995
Footnotes
☆From the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, San Paolo Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Milan School of Medicine,a the Laboratory of Metabolic Diseases, Istituti Clinici di Perfezionamento,b and the Division of Perinatal Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine.c
☆☆Supported by Italian National Research Council Targeted Project ''Prevention and Control Disease Factors,'' Subproject ''FATMA'' No. 95.00880.PF41.115.21807, and by National Institutes of Health grant No. HD 20761.
★Reprint requests: Irene Cetin, MD, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Milano, H. San Paolo - Via A. di Rudinì, 8-20142 Milano, Italy.
★★0002-9378/96 $5.00 + 0 6/1/70568
Identification
Copyright
© 1996 Mosby, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
