A non-targeted LC-MS metabolic profiling of pregnancy: longitudinal evidence from healthy and pre-eclamptic pregnancies

IntroductionMaternal metabolism changes substantially during pregnancy. However, few studies have used metabolomics technologies to characterize changes across gestation.Objectives and methodsWe applied liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) based non-targeted metabolomics to determine whether the metabolic profile of serum differs throughout the pregnancy between pre-eclamptic and healthy women in the FINNPEC (Finnish Genetics of Preeclampsia Consortium) Study. Serum samples were available from early and late pregnancy.ResultsProgression of pregnancy had large-scale effects to the serum metabolite profile. Altogether 50 identified metabolites increased and 49 metabolites decreased when samples of early pregnancy were compared to samples of late pregnancy. The metabolic signatures of pregnancy were largely shared in pre-eclamptic and healthy women, only urea, monoacylglyceride 18:1 and glycerophosphocholine were identified to be increased in the pre-eclamptic women when compared to healthy controls.ConclusionsOur study highlights the need of large-scale longitudinal metabolomic studies in non-complicated pregnancies before more detailed understanding of metabolism in adverse outcomes could be provided. Our findings are one of the first steps for a broader metabolic understanding of the physiological changes caused by pregnancy per se.

Automated summary

Maternal metabolism undergoes significant changes during pregnancy, yet few studies have explored these changes using metabolomics technologies. We utilized LC-MS based non-targeted metabolomics to compare the metabolic profiles of serum samples from pre-eclamptic and healthy women in early and late pregnancy. Our study found that the progression of pregnancy had a major impact on serum metabolite profiles, with distinct changes observed between early and late pregnancy samples. The metabolic signatures of pregnancy were largely similar between pre-eclamptic and healthy women, with only a few specific metabolites showing differences.