Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid transport across the perfused human placenta

Paul Haggarty, K Page, D R Abramovich, J Ashton, D Brown

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

154 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The role of the placenta in controlling the supply of fatty acids to the fetus was investigated in term placentae (n = 9) from normal pregnancies. The maternal side was perfused ex vivo for 90 min with a modified Krebs Ringer solution containing a physiological mixture of fatty acids and ratio of fatty acid to human albumin. There was no evidence of chain elongation and desaturation of the essential fatty acids. Relative to the value for oleic acid, the rate of transfer to the fetal circulation was: 1.30 +/- 0.02 (P < 0.001) for linoleic acid, 1.61 +/- 0.09 (P = 0.002) for a-linolenic acid, 0.67 +/- 0.10 (P = 0.033) for arachidonic acid and 2.10 +/- 0.16 (P = 0.003) for docosahexaenoic acid. For tissue accumulation the values were 1.47 +/- 0.39 (P < 0.001) for linoleic acid, 2.24 +/- 0.37 (P = 0.027) for alpha-linolenic acid, 9.84 +/- 1.03 (P = 0.001) for arachidonic acid, and 3.01 +/- 0.79 (P = 0.064) for docosahexaenoic acid. The order of selectivity for transfer from the maternal to the fetal circulation was docosahexaenoic>alpha-linolenic>linoleic>oleic>arachidonic acid. Such a mechanism would allow the preferential transfer of docosahexaenoic acid and the essential fatty acids to the fetal circulation, thereby protecting the polyunsaturated fatty acid supply to the fetus during a critical period of development. (C) 1997 W. B. Saunders Company Ltd.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)635-642
Number of pages8
JournalPlacenta
Volume18
Issue number8
Publication statusPublished - Nov 1997

Keywords

  • BINDING PROTEIN
  • INFANTS
  • MEMBRANES
  • BRAIN
  • PRETERM
  • FORMULA
  • ALBUMIN
  • ACUITY
  • GROWTH

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