Abstract
Substantial studies indicated that fetal macrosomia was associated with detrimental pregnancy outcomes, and increased susceptibility to metabolic diseases in later life. However, investigations into the association between placental microbiota and fetal macrosomia are limited. We aimed to profile the placental microbiota of fetal macrosomia and study whether they relate to clinical characteristics. Placenta samples were collected from fetal macrosomias and newborns with normal birth weight. The clinical characteristics, umbilical cord blood parameters were measured, and placental microbiota were sequenced and further analysed. The clinical characteristics of infants and mothers and umbilical cord blood parameters were significantly different between macrosomias and controls. The relative abundance of microbiota sequences revealed that microbial structures of the placenta differed significantly between macrosomia and controls. Regression analysis showed a cluster of key operational taxonomic unit (OTUs), phyla and genera were significantly correlated with body length, ponderal index and placenta weight, body weight increase during pregnancy of mothers, and cord blood IGF-1 and leptin concentrations. In conclusion, our study for the first time explored the relationship between placental microbiota profile and fetal macrosomia. It is novel in showing that a distinct placental microbiota profile is present in fetal macrosomia, and is associated with clinical characteristics of mothers and newborns.
Highlights
Fetal macrosomia has a birth weight of more than 4000 grams, which can increase the risks of poor pregnancy outcome in mothers and newborns [1]
Our objective was: 1) to investigate the structure and diversity of placental microbiota in fetal macrosomia; 2) to determine whether they relate to clinical characteristics of mothers and infants, and umbilical cord blood biochemical parameters
We measured insulin, leptin and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) levels in cord blood. It showed that leptin (14.84±6.71 vs. 7.50±3.82, P = 0.008) and IGF-1 (93.20±56.88 vs. 51.99±22.19, P = 0.047) concentrations were elevated in fetal macrosomia
Summary
Fetal macrosomia has a birth weight of more than 4000 grams, which can increase the risks of poor pregnancy outcome in mothers and newborns [1]. Fetal macrosomia could put the baby at increased risk of injury during birth, such as shoulder dystocia, clavicle fracture, birth asphyxia, and perinatal mortality [5, 6]. For the long term effects, infants born with macrosomia may be more likely to develop obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases in adulthood, known as “fetal programming hypothesis” [8]. Koyanagi et al showed that an increasing rate of fetal macrosomia was in parallel with rises in obesity and diabetes for women in the childbearing age [9]. Macrosomia has been identified as a worldwide problem [10]
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