BACKGROUND Trace elements are an essential requirement for human health and development and changes in trace element status have been associated with pregnancy complications such as gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), pre-eclampsia (PE), fetal growth restriction (FGR), and preterm birth. Elemental metabolomics, which involves the simultaneous quantification and characterisation of multiple elements, could provide important insights into these gestational disorders. METHODS This study used an Agilent 7900 inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) to simultaneously measure 68 elements, in 166 placental cord blood samples collected from women with various pregnancy complications (control, hypertensive, PE, GDM, FGR, pre-term, and post-term birth). RESULTS There were single element differences across gestational outcomes for elements Mg, P, Cr, Ni, Sr, Mo, I, Au, Pb, and U. Hypertensive and post-term pregnancies were significantly higher in Ni concentrations when compared to controls (control = 2.74 μg/L, hypertensive = 6.72 μg/L, post-term = 7.93 μg/L, p < 0.05), iodine concentration was significantly higher in post-term pregnancies (p < 0.05), and Pb concentrations were the lowest in pre-term pregnancies (pre-term = 2.79 μg/L, control = 4.68 μg/L, PE = 5.32 μg/L, GDM = 8.27 μg/L, p < 0.01). Further analysis was conducted using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for differentiating pregnancy groups. The ratio of Sn/Pb showed the best diagnostic power in discriminating between control and pre-term birth with area under the curve (AUC) 0.86. When comparing control and post-term birth, Mg/Cr (AUC = 0.84), and Cr (AUC = 0.83) had the best diagnostic powers. In pre-term and post-term comparisons Ba was the best single element (81.5%), and P/Cu provided the best ratio (91.7%). CONCLUSIONS This study has shown that analysis of multiple elements can enable differentiation between fetal cord blood samples from control, hypertensive, PE, GDM, FGR, pre and post-term pregnancies. This data highlights the power of elemental metabolomics and provides a basis for future gestational studies.

中文翻译：

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人脐带血中的元素代谢组学：方法验证和微量元素定量。

背景技术微量元素是人类健康和发展的基本要求，微量元素状态的变化与妊娠并发症有关，如妊娠糖尿病（GDM），先兆子痫（PE），胎儿生长受限（FGR）和早产。元素代谢组学涉及多个元素的同时定量和表征，可以为这些妊娠疾病提供重要的见识。方法本研究使用Agilent 7900电感耦合等离子体质谱仪（ICP-MS）同时测量166种胎盘脐带血样中的68种元素，这些胎盘血样来自各种妊娠并发症（对照，高血压，PE，GDM，FGR，早产） ，以及早产）。结果Mg元素在整个妊娠结局中存在单一元素差异，P，Cr，Ni，Sr，Mo，I，Au，Pb和U。与对照组相比，高血压和足月妊娠的镍浓度明显高于对照组（对照组= 2.74μg/ L，高血压= 6.72μg/ L，足月妊娠= 7.93μg/ L，p <0.05），足月妊娠的碘浓度显着较高（p <0.05），铅浓度在足月妊娠中最低（足月= 2.79μg/ L） ，对照＝4.68μg/ L，PE ＝5.32μg/ L，GDM ＝8.27μg/ L，p ＜0.01）。使用接收器工作特性（ROC）曲线进行了进一步的分析，以区分妊娠组。Sn / Pb的比值在区分曲线下面积（AUC）为0.86的对照和早产时显示出最佳的诊断能力。比较对照和早产时，Mg / Cr（AUC = 0.84）和Cr（AUC = 0.83）具有最佳诊断能力。在前期和后期比较中，Ba是最佳的单一元素（81.5％），而P / Cu提供了最佳的比例（91.7％）。结论这项研究表明，对多种元素的分析可以区分胎儿脐带血样本，这些样本来自对照，高血压，PE，GDM，FGR，早孕和足月妊娠。这些数据突出了元素代谢组学的力量，并为将来的妊娠研究提供了基础。