To Örebro University

Objective: To survey the placental gene expression of inflammatory markers and growth factors in non-smoking obese women with an uncomplicated pregnancy without associated morbidity and delivery at term compared with normal weight women.

Methods: Placental tissue samples from 32 obese women (body mass index, BMI >= 35.0 kg/m(2)) were compared with samples from 94 normal weight women (BMI 18.5-25.0 kg/m(2)) matched for age (+/- 1 year), gestational age (+/- 3 days), parity and mode of delivery. Semi-quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to analyse toll receptor-2 and -4, interleukin-6 and -8, tumour necrosis factor-alpha, leptin, adiponectin, insulin-like growth factor-1 and -2, hepatocyte growth factor, hepatocyte growth factor receptor and insulin receptor.

Results: There was no significant difference in gene expression in placental tissue samples from obese and normal weight women.

Conclusion: We found no difference in the occurrence of inflammatory marker and growth factor mRNA levels in placental tissue samples from a large group of obese women without associated morbidity and with healthy infants compared to a closely matched control group of healthy normal weight women. Compared with the previous studies, this anomalous finding may be explained by the absence of associated morbidity in the obese women in our study.

Objective: To investigate the placental gene expression of substances in the inflammatory cascade and growth factors at nine different well-defined sampling sites in full-term placentas from 12 normal weight healthy non-smoking women with an uncomplicated singleton pregnancy.

Methods: All placentas (six girls and six boys) were delivered vaginally. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to analyze toll receptor-2 and -4, interleukin-6 and -8, tumor necrosis factor-α, leptin, ghrelin, insulin-like growth factor-1 and -2, hepatocyte growth factor, hepatocyte growth factor receptor and insulin receptor (IR).

Results: The leptin gene and the IR gene showed higher expression in lateral regions near the chorionic plate compared to central regions near the basal plate (P = 0.028 and P = 0.041, respectively).

Conclusion: Our results suggest that the sampling site may influence the gene expression for leptin and IR in placental tissue obtained from full-term normal pregnancies. We speculate that this may be due to differences in placental structure and perfusion and may be important when future studies are designed.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to investigate placental ghrelin and leptin expression as well as cord blood ghrelin and adiponectin levels in maternal obesity and associations between placental ghrelin expression, cord blood ghrelin levels and maternal and infant variables.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Placental ghrelin and leptin expression were analyzed by RT-PCR in 32 severely obese and 32 matched normal-weight women. Cord blood ghrelin, adiponectin, leptin, and C-peptide concentrations were analyzed by ELISA.

RESULTS: Neither ghrelin nor leptin expression and neither cord blood ghrelin nor adiponectin levels differed between the groups. Placental ghrelin expression was associated with BMI at delivery in the obese women (r = 0.424, p = .016) and in the infants born to normal-weight women with their weight z-scores at six (r = -0.642, p = .010), nine (r = -0.441, p = .015), and 12 months of age (r = -0.402, p = .028).

CONCLUSIONS: Placental ghrelin and leptin expression as well as cord blood ghrelin and adiponectin levels do not seem to be altered in severe maternal obesity. Placenta-derived ghrelin may influence the infants' postnatal weight gain, but possibly only when the mother has normal weight.