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Maternal DHA levels increase early in women undergoing embryo transfer
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In women undergoing frozen embryo transfer, maternal levels of docosahexaenoic acid appear to increase rapidly before closure of the fetal neural tube, which occurs at 28 days’ gestation, according to recent findings.
Barbara J. Meyer, PhD, associate professor at the University of Wollongong in Australia, and colleagues evaluated women undergoing frozen embryonic transfer at the Assisted Conception Unit, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Scotland, between October 2007 and April 2010. Researchers collected consecutive fasting blood samples before the luteinizing hormone (LH) surge, and then at days 18, 29 and 45 after LH surge. At day 18 after LH surge, women who did not become pregnant (n = 35) withdrew from the study, leaving 27 pregnant women who completed blood testing at all time points.
The study’s primary outcome measures were plasma fatty acid levels and the effect of twin pregnancies on levels of plasma docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).
The researchers found that in the 27 women who became pregnant, there was a rapid, early increase in the rate at which maternal plasma DHA concentration changed; this increase was observed by 29 days post-LH surge (mean standard deviation [SD]: 0.1 ± 1.3 nmol DHA/mL plasma daily to 1.6 ± 2.9 nmol DHA/mL plasma daily). The increase in plasma DHA levels was further pronounced in twin pregnancies, in which the DHA level increase during a 45-day period was twice that of singleton pregnancies (mean SD increase, 74 ± 39 nmol/mL vs. 36 ± 40 nmol/mL). A 30% increase was identified (with an index of delta-6 desaturase activity), which was positively associated with the accelerated rate of change in DHA levels between day 18 and day 29 post-LH surge (P = .0002). DHA also was the only fatty acid with a positive incremental area under the curve (mean SD: 632 ± 911 nmol/mL per day) during the initial 45 days of gestation.
“The early rise in maternal plasma DHA concentration could be achieved either through its release from body stores or via increased synthesis,” the researchers wrote. “Diet is unlikely to be substantially changed over such a short period of time, but cannot be discounted. Humans do not store substantial amounts of DHA in adipose tissue, yet there is sufficient DHA content and total adipose tissue mass in pregnant women that its release from adipose tissue could contribute to the increase in plasma concentration observed here.” – by Jennifer Byrne
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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