Is gestational diabetes mellitus in obese women predicted by oxidative damage in red blood cells?

Abstract

Obesity in pregnant women has been associated with an increased risk of maternal complications, including gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), a process that is related to oxidative stress (OS). To evaluate the biomarkers of OS in red blood cells (RBCs), we assigned 80 pregnant women to one of three groups: control (n = 28), overweight (n = 26) and obese (n = 26). Then, we measured in plasma, the levels of glucose, triacylglycerol (TAG), insulin, free fatty acids (FFAs), leptin and cytokines (e.g. interleukin-6 [IL-6] and tumor necrosis factor-alpha [TNF-alpha]) and OS biomarkers, such as lipohydroperoxides (LHP), malondialdehyde (MDA) and protein carbonylation (PC) in RBCs. We found significant positive correlations between OS biomarkers, body mass index (BMI) and pregnancy progression. Seven (26.9%) obese women who were diagnosed with GDM at 24–28 weeks of pregnancy showed significantly increased concentrations of FFAs, insulin, leptin, TNF-alpha and biomarkers of OS measured at 12–13 weeks of gestation. We propose to quantify LHP, MDA and PC in membranes of erythrocytes as possible markers to diagnose GDM from weeks 12–14.

摘要

包括妊娠期糖尿病(GDM)在内的母体相关并发症风险增加与孕期肥胖有关, 这一过程与氧化应激(OS)有关。为了评估红细胞的氧化应激（OS）,我们将80名孕妇分为三组:对照组(n=28)、超重组(n=26)和肥胖组(n=26)。然后, 我们测量了血浆中葡萄糖、甘油三脂(TAG)、胰岛素、游离脂肪酸(FFAs)、瘦素和细胞因子(如白细胞介素-6 [IL-6]和肿瘤坏死因子-a[TNF-a])和OS生物标志物, 如脂氢过氧化物(LHP)、丙二醛(MDA)和羰基化蛋白质(PC)在红细胞中的水平。我们发现OS生物标志物、体重指数(BMI)与妊娠进展显著正相关。7名(26.9%)在妊娠24 - 28周时被诊断为GDM的肥胖妇女在妊娠12-13周时, FFAs、胰岛素、瘦素、TNF-和OS的生物标志物浓度显著增加。我们建议在12-14周时量化红细胞细胞膜中的LHP、MDA和PC, 作为诊断GDM的可能标志物。

Keywords:

• Oxidative damage
• insulin resistance
• overweight
• inflammation
• diabetes mellitus

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Cristina Ramírez Hernández, BSc and Maricruz Tolentino Dolores, BSc in the Nutrition Department, INPer, Ministry of Health, Mexico City, México, for their help with the clinical laboratory determinations.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Fondo Sectorial de Investigación en Salud y Seguridad Social SSA/IMSS/ISSSTE-CONACyT [SALUD-2012-01-180163] for their financial assistance.