Plasma From Women with Preeclampsia Has a Low Lipid and Ketone Body Content—A Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Study

Abstract

Objective: Using ¹H-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and chemometrics, we sought to establish the metabolic profile for preeclampsia and to identify biomarkers that would permit a distinction between women with a normal pregnancy and those suffering from preeclampsia. Methods: Plasma samples from 11 normotensive pregnant women and 11 women with preeclampsia were analyzed. Principal component analysis was applied to differentiate between the two groups of patients. Results: Lipid concentrations were found to be significantly lower in the plasma of patients suffering from preeclampsia than those in normotensive pregnant women (p = 0.031). There is also evidence to suggest that ketone body constituents may contribute to the discrimination. Conclusion: ¹H-nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolic profiling can detect patients with preeclampsia.

Keywords:

• Preeclampsia
• Oxidative stress
• NMR
• Metabolic profiling
• Lipid peroxidation
• Ketone bodies