Maternal obesity reduces apelin level in cord blood without altering the placental apelin/elabela-APJ system

The APJ receptor and its two endogenous ligands, apelin and elabela, exert key roles in fetoplacental develop-ment. In adult, this system is altered by obesity but no data are available during pregnancy. We measured apelin and elabela levels in maternal plasma and cord blood and quantified placental gene expression of apelin, elabela and APJ in obese and non-obese mothers. We found that obesity reduced apelin level in cord blood without affecting maternal and cord blood elabela levels as well as placental gene expression of this system. Our data suggest that obesity alters fetal apelinemia in humans.

Automated summary

This study found that obesity reduces the levels of apelin in cord blood, but has no effect on maternal and cord blood levels of elabela or placental gene expression of this system.