Metabolic reprogramming in placenta and umbilical cord serum of polycystic ovary syndrome pregnancies: testosterone-associated alterations and interaction with obesity - PubMed
3 hours ago
- #Metabolomics
- #Maternal-Fetal Interface
- #PCOS Pregnancy
- Study compared 48 PCOS pregnancies and 50 healthy controls, finding distinct metabolomic and lipidomic profiles in placental tissue and umbilical cord serum.
- Key altered pathways included tryptophan metabolism, sphingolipid metabolism, and unsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis, with propionic and gluconic acids as central nodes.
- Maternal testosterone levels strongly correlated with differential metabolites and lipids, and obesity added an additive metabolic burden that partially masked PCOS-specific changes.
- Limitations include cross-sectional design, single-center setting, and lack of pre-pregnancy hormonal profiles or maternal blood samples, restricting causal inferences.
- Findings may inform early risk biomarkers and targeted interventions to mitigate adverse metabolic programming in offspring, considering maternal obesity status.