Lipidomics Profiles are Related to Preterm Birth and Depressive Symptoms in Pregnant African American Women
Authors: Saadat Nadia , Lydic Todd , Misra Dawn , Giurgescu Carmen 
Published: June 2021

African American women have a higher preterm birth rate (PTB, birth before 37 weeks) compared to non‐Hispanic white women. Exposure to chronic stressors has been related to higher rates of PTB (Latendresse et al. 2009 & Misra et al. 2010). This project is a part of a larger research study to investigate the social and biological mechanisms responsible for higher PTB and other pregnancy complications in African American women. We hypothesized that the lipidomic profiles will be related to gestational age at birth and depressive symptoms among pregnant African American women. Thirty women were recruited at the prenatal clinic site in Metropolitan Detroit. Women completed the questionnaires and plasma samples were collected between 8 to 16 weeks of gestation. The lipidomic profiles were determined by “shotgun” Orbitrap high resolution/accurate mass spectrometry. Plasma triglycerides, glycerolipids, phospholipids, sphingolipids, sterols, fatty acids, and signaling lipids were measured. The data were analyzed by multivariate analysis, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Orthogonal Projections to Latent Structures (OPLS), and OPLS Discriminant Analysis (OPLS‐DA) using SIMCA P+ software. PCA was used to identify the outliers and patterns in the data. OPLS DA score plot showed good separation and groupings of PTB and full‐term birth. The corresponding S‐plot, loading plot, and Variable Importance for the Projection (VIP) plot/list were used to identify the lipids responsible for the groupings. We identified a panel of lipid markers of PTB. Higher levels of triglycerides species TG (53:5), TG (53:4), TG (54:5), TG (54:6), TG (52:6) and TG (52:4) and lower levels of phospholipid species PC (37:1), PC (41:6) and PC (39:3) were associated with PTB. Plasma lipidomics profiles showed a good correlation with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES‐D) scores in the OPLS model. There was a clear separation in the OPLS DA score plot between women with CES‐D scores ≥ 23 compared to women with CES‐D scores < 23. Phosphatidylcholine PC (37:1) levels were also lower among women with CES‐D scores ≥ 23 compared to women with CES‐D scores < 23 pointing toward a possible connection between depressive symptoms and PTB. We also investigated the differences in lipidomics profiles based on Body Mass Index (BMI). Although the overweight pregnant women group (pre‐pregnancy BMI >25 kg/m2) showed higher levels of triglycerides, there was no clear overlap with the PTB model. Our data suggest the role of specific triglycerides and phosphatidylcholines in PTB. Further investigation of the association of PTB and depressive symptoms with lipidomics profiles and phospholipid metabolism in a larger sample of pregnant African American women may lead to the identification of non‐invasive lipid biomarkers of PTB and intervention strategies for these women.

Support or Funding Information

R01 MD011575, Social Stressors and Inflammation: A Mixed Methods Approach to Preterm Birth. National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities

This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.