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Abstract
The molecular species composition of plasma phosphatidylcholine (PC) was measured
in sequential blood samples from 13 pregnant women from 16 weeks of gestation to delivery
at term. The increased total plasma PC concentration at term was due solely to increased
concentrations of individual species containing palmitate (16:0) rather than stearate
(18:0) at the sn-1 position. The specific increase of PC16:0/22:6 concentration in
mid-gestation suggests that adaptations to maternal hepatic PC metabolism may provide
a mechanism to ensure adequate supply of 22:6(n-3) to the fetus. While cord plasma
PC was comparable to liver PC composition from three stillborn term infants, the compositions
of these tissues differed from maternal plasma PC, which contained significantly more
PC16:0/18:2 and PC18:0/18:2. These results suggest that, although fetal acquisition
of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) is dependent on the maternal lipid supply, the
detailed composition of fetal plasma PC may be regulated largely by intrinsic fetal
mechanisms such as placental and liver PC metabolism. Similarly, the specific alterations
to maternal plasma PC composition in pregnancy, which we postulate are associated
with the supply of PUFA to the fetus, were substantially independent of variations
in maternal dietary lipid nutrition.