Abstract
Background: It is not known whether fasting affects levels of circulating placenta-specific transcripts.
Objective: To assess whether a glucose load affects circulating placenta-specific transcripts.
Method: RNA was extracted from paired blood samples (fasting and 1-h post 75 g oral glucose) from 22 women. Placenta-specific genes were measured by RT-qPCR.
Results: There was no change in ADM, CSH1, PAPPA2, PSG1 or TAC3 expression between fasting and post-glucose states. However, HTRA1 decreased after glucose load.
Conclusion: Maternal fasting state does not influence expression of the majority of placenta-specific genes but may need to be accounted for when validating biomarkers of placental disease.
Acknowledgements
We wish to thank the pathology and health information services staff at the Mercy Hospital for Women for their assistance in conducting this research.
Declaration of interest
The authors report no conflict of interest. This study was supported by NHMRC Grant 1065854 and RANZCOG Taylor Hammond Scholarship with thanks.