Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T01:41:10.276Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effect of maternal smoking and ethanol on fatty acid transport by the human placenta

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

P. Haggarty ,
D. R. Abramovich  and
K. Page
P. Haggarty*
Affiliation:
Rowett Research Institute, Aberdeen AB2 9SB, Scotland, UK
D. R. Abramovich
Affiliation:
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Aberdeen University, Aberdeen AB9 2ZD, Scotland, UK
K. Page
Affiliation:
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Aberdeen University, Aberdeen AB9 2ZD, Scotland, UK
*
*Corresponding author: Dr Paul Haggarty, fax +44 1224 684880, email [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The role of the placenta in controlling the supply of fatty acids to the fetus was investigated in term placentas from non-smokers (n 5), smokers (>ten cigarettes/d; n 5) and after addition of ethanol at 2 mg/ml (n 4). The maternal side was of the placenta was perfused ex vivo for 90 min with a physiological mixture of fatty acids and fatty acid:human albumin ratio. There was no effect of smoking on the transfer of linoleic (LA, 18 : 2 n-6), α-linolenic (αLN, 18 : 3 n-3), arachidonic (AA, 20 : 4 n-6) or docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22 : 6 n-3), expressed per perfused area (calculated from H218O exchange). However, the presence of ethanol in the perfusate at a concentration of 2 mg/ml significantly reduced (P<0·01) the absolute rate of transfer of the two n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, αLN and DHA. This specific effect of ethanol on αLN and DHA also resulted in an altered selectivity for transfer of individual fatty acids. In the non-smoking control group the placenta selectively transferred polyunsaturated fatty acids to the fetus in the order DHA>AA>αLN>LA. The order of selectivity was unaltered in placentas from smokers, but the addition of ethanol to the perfusion medium altered the order of selectivity to AA>αLN>LA>DHA. The presence of ethanol in the perfusate was also associated with a significant reduction (P<0·05) in the clearance of H218O. These results suggest that the presence of ethanol at a concentration of 2 mg/ml may reduce the availability of polyunsaturated fatty acids to the developing fetus.

Keywords

PlacentaSmokingAlcoholTransportPolyunsaturated fatty acidsDocosahexaenoic acidPregnancy
Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 87 , Issue 3 , March 2002 , pp. 247 - 252
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 2002

References

Bearer, CF, Gould, S, Emerson, R, Kinnunen, P & Cook, CS (1992) Fetal alcohol syndrome and fatty-acid ethyl-esters. Pediatric Research 31, 492–495.Google Scholar
Beer, WH, Johnson, RF, Guentzel, MN, Lozano, J, Henderson, GI & Schenker, S (1992) Human placental transfer of zinc: Normal characteristics and role of ethanol. Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research 16, 98–105.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Birch, EE, Birch, DG, Hoffman, DR & Uauy, R (1992) Dietary essential fatty-acid supply and visual-acuity development. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 33, 3242–3253.Google Scholar
Bligh, EG & Dyer, WJ (1959) A rapid method of total lipid extraction and purification. Canadian Journal of Biochemistry and Physiology 37, 911–917.Google Scholar
Burdge, GC & Postle, AD (1995) Effect of maternal ethanol consumption during pregnancy on the phospholipid molecular species composition of fetal guinea-pig brain, liver and plasma. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 1256, 346–352.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Campbell, FM, Gordon, MJ & DuttaRoy, AK (1996) Preferential uptake of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids by isolated human placental membranes. Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry 155, 77–83.Google Scholar
Clandinin, MT, Chappell, JE & Leong, S (1980) Intrauterine fatty acid accretion rates in human brain: Implications for fatty acid requirements. Early Human Development 4, 131–138.Google Scholar
Crawford, M (2000) Placental delivery of arachidonic and docosahexaenoic acids: implications for the lipid nutrition of preterm infants. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 71, 275S–284S.Google Scholar
Crawford, MA, Hassam, AG, Williams, SCR & Whitehouse, WL (1976) Essential fatty acids and fetal brain growth. Lancet i, 452–453.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cunnane, SC (1987) Hepatic triacylglycerol accumulation induced by ethanol and carbon-tetrachloride – interactions with essential fatty-acids and prostaglandins. Alcoholism – Clinical and Experimental Research 11, 25–31.Google Scholar
Denkins, YM, Woods, J, Whitty, JE, Hannigan, JH, Martier, SS, Sokol, RJ & Salem, N Jr (2000) Effects of gestational alcohol exposure on the fatty acid composition of umbilical cord serum in humans. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 71, 300S–306S.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ellard, GA, Johnstone, FD, Prescott, RJ, Wang, JX & Mao, JH (1996) Smoking during pregnancy: The dose dependence of birthweight deficits. British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 103, 806–813.Google Scholar
Falconer, J (1990) The effect of maternal ethanol infusion on placental blood-flow and fetal glucose-metabolism in sheep. Alcohol and Alcoholism 25, 413–416.Google ScholarPubMed
Friedman, Z, Danon, A, Lamberth, EL & Mann, WJ (1978) Cord blood fatty acid composition in infants and their mothers during the third trimester. Journal of Pediatrics 92, 461–466.Google Scholar
Gurr, M (1993) Fats. In Human Nutrition and Dietetics, pp 77–102. [Garrow, JS and James, WPT, editors] .Edinburgh: CABI Publishing on behalf of the Nutrition Society.Google Scholar
Haggarty, P, Ashton, J, Joynson, M, Abramovich, DR & Page, K (1999) Effect of maternal polyunsaturated fatty acid concentration on transport by the human placenta. Biology of the Neonate 75, 350–359.Google Scholar
Haggarty, P, Page, K, Abramovich, DR, Ashton, J & Brown, D (1997) Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid transport across the perfused human placenta. Placenta 18, 635–642.Google Scholar
Henderson, GI, Patwardhan, RV, McLeroy, S & Schenker, S (1982) Inhibition of placental amino acid uptake in rats following acute and chronic ethanol exposure. Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research 6, 495–505.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hornstra, G, Al, MDM, Houwelingen, AC & Foreman Van Drongelen, MMHP (1995) Essential fatty acids in pregnancy and early human development. European Journal of Obstetrics Gynaecology and Reproduction 61, 57–62.Google Scholar
Hu, Z-Q, Henderson, GI, Mock, DM & Schenker, S (1994) Biotin uptake by basolateral membrane vesicles of human placenta: Normal characteristics and role of ethanol. Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 206, 404–408.Google Scholar
Innis, SM, Nelson, CM, Lwanga, D, Rioux, FM & Waslen, P (1996) Feeding formula without arachidonic acid and docosahexaenoic acid has no effect on preferential looking acuity or recognition memory in healthy full-term infants at 9 months of age. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 64, 40–46.Google Scholar
Kuhn, DC & Crawford, M (1986) Placental essential fatty acid transport and prostaglandin synthesis. Progress in Lipid Research 25, 345–353.Google Scholar
Kuhn, DC, Crawford, MA & Stevens, P (1985) Transport and metabolism of essential fatty acids by the human placenta. Contributions to Gynecology and Obstetrics 13, 139–140.Google Scholar
Laposata, EA, Scherrer, DE, Mazow, C & Lange, LG (1987) Metabolism of ethanol by human-brain to fatty-acid ethyl-esters. Journal of Biological Chemistry 262, 4653–4657.Google Scholar
Larroque, B, Kaminski, M, Lelong, N, Subtil, D & Dehaene, P (1993) Effects on birth weight of alcohol and caffeine consumption during pregnancy. American Journal of Epidemiology 137, 941–950.Google Scholar
Lindsay, CA, Thomas, AJ & Catalano, PM (1997) The effect of smoking tobacco on neonatal body composition. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 177, 1124–1128.Google Scholar
Lucas, A, Stafford, M, Morley, R, Abbott, R, Stephenson, T, MacFadyen, U, Elias-Jones, A & Clements, H (1999) Efficacy and safety of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation of infant-formula milk: a randomised trial. Lancet 354, 1948–1954.Google Scholar
Midwood, AJ, Haggarty, P, Milne, E & McGaw, BA (1992) Factors affecting the analysis of O-18-enriched aqueous samples when using CO2 equilibration in vacutainers. Applied Radiation and Isotopes 43, 1341–1347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mullen, PD, Carbonari, JP, Tabak, ER & Glenday, MC (1991) Improving disclosure of smoking by pregnant-women. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 165, 409–413.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Olufemi, OS, Whittaker, PG, Halliday, D & Lind, T (1991) Albumin metabolism in fasted subjects during late pregnancy. Clinical Science 81, 161–168.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Patwardhan, RV, Schenker, S, Henderson, GI, Abou-Mourad, NN & Hoyumpa, AM (1981) Short-term and long-term ethanol administration inhibits the placental uptake and transport of valine in rats. Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine 98, 251–262.Google ScholarPubMed
Pawlosky, RJ & Salem, N (1995) Ethanol exposure causes a decrease in docosahexaenoic acid and an increase in docosapentaenoic acid in feline brains and retinas. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 61, 1284–1289.Google Scholar
Randall, CL, Ekblad, U, White, NM & Cook, JL (1996) Increase in vasoactive prostaglandin E production after ethanol perfusion in human placental cotyledons. Alcoholism – Clinical and Experimental Research 20, 1321–1328.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rice, PA, Nesbitt, REL, Cuenca, VG, Zhang, W, Gordon, GB & Kim, TJ (1986) The effect of ethanol on the production of lactate, triglycerides, phospholipids, and free fatty-acids in the perfused human-placenta. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 155, 207–211.Google Scholar
Salem, NJ & Karanian, JW (1988) Polyunsaturated fatty acids and ethanol. Advances in Alcohol and Substance Abuse 7, 183–197.Google Scholar
Schenker, S, Johnson, RF, Hays, SE, Ganeshappa, R & Henderson, GI (1989) Effects of nicotine and nicotine/ethanol on human placental amino acids transfer. Alcohol 6, 289–296.Google Scholar
Schenker, S, Johnson, RF, Hoyumpa, AM & Henderson, GI (1990) Thiamine-transfer by human placenta: Normal transport and effects of ethanol. Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine 116, 106–115.Google Scholar
Taylor, SM, Heron, AE, Cannell, GR & Florin, THJ (1994) Presser effect of ethanol in the isolated-perfused human placental lobule. European Journal of Pharmacology – Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology Section 270, 371–374.Google Scholar