Open AccessHigh maternal BMI and low maternal blood BDNF may determine the limit of detection of amniotic fluid BDNF throughout gestation: Analysis of mother-fetus trios and literature review
Author(s) -
A Flöck,
Alexandru Odainic,
Ramona DolscheidPommerich,
Michael Robert Jaskolski,
Anna Katharina Diedrich,
Marie Therese Puth,
Susanne Viktoria Schmidt,
Birgit StoffelWagner,
Brigitte Strizek,
Ulrich Gembruch,
Waltraut M. Merz
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0265186
Subject(s) - amniotic fluid , pregnancy , medicine , brain derived neurotrophic factor , fetus , gestation , endocrinology , andrology , obstetrics , neurotrophic factors , biology , genetics , receptor
Objective An increasing number of studies show the importance of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) acting at the feto-placental interface, however, only a few studies describe BDNF levels in amniotic fluid (AF). Methods In this cross-sectional, prospective study, 109 maternal blood-amniotic fluid pairs (including 66 maternal blood-fetal-blood-amniotic fluid trios) were analyzed. BDNF concentrations were measured with a commercially available immunoassay. Results In 71 AF from 109 samples, AF-BDNF concentrations were below the lowest limit of Quantitation (LLoQ) of 1.19 pg/ml (group A), leaving 38 samples with measurable BDNF concentrations (group B). Patients in group A showed significantly higher maternal BMI before pregnancy (mean±SD 26.3± 6.7 (kg/m 2 ) vs. 23.8 ±4.5 (kg/m 2 ) p = 0.04) and lower maternal blood BDNF concentrations than the other group (mean±SD 510.6 ± 554.7 pg/ml vs. mean±SD 910.1± 690.1 pg/ml; p<0.0001). Spearman correlation showed a negative correlation between maternal BMI before pregnancy and maternal BDNF concentrations (r = -0.25, p = 0.01). Conclusion Our study is the first to correlate AF-BDNF samples with the corresponding maternal and fetal blood-BDNF samples. The significant negative correlation between maternal BMI before pregnancy and maternal BDNF and AF-BDNF concentrations below the limit of detection has to be evaluated in further studies.