AIMS/HYPOTHESIS Both arachidonic acid (AA, 20:4 n-6) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA,22:6 n-3), long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA), are involved in fetal development and, based on their percentage compositions, appear to be specifically accumulated in fetal circulation in a proposed phenomenon known as biomagnification. Discrepancies exist in the literature concerning the effect of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) on circulating fatty acids. Our objective was to analyse individual fatty acid concentrations in a large cohort of maternal and cord paired serum samples from pregnant women with and without GDM. METHODS Overnight fasted maternal and cord blood paired samples from 84 women with GDM and well controlled blood glucose levels and 90 healthy pregnant women (controls) were drawn at term. Individual fatty acids within total serum lipids were analysed by gas chromatography and expressed both as concentrations of fatty acid (mmol/l) and as a percentage of total fatty acids. RESULTS In the serum of overnight fasted pregnant women with GDM, the concentrations of most fatty acids were lower than in control women, except for AA and DHA, which remained the same. The concentrations of most fatty acids in cord serum were also lower in the GDM group than in the control group, except for α-linolenic acid (ALA,18:3 n-3), which was higher in the GDM group. In both groups, the concentrations of all fatty acids were lower in cord serum than in maternal serum. In GDM participants only, a positive and significant correlation between cord and maternal serum concentration of AA and DHA was observed. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION The expression of fatty acids in molar concentrations reveals that GDM decreases the concentration of most fatty acids in both maternal and cord serum. There is a high fetal dependence on maternal AA and DHA, but our findings do not support the existence of a fetal biomagnification of those two LCPUFA.

中文翻译：

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患有妊娠糖尿病且血糖水平得到良好控制的孕妇的母体和脐带血清中的个别脂肪酸浓度降低。

目的/假设花生四烯酸（AA，20：4 n-6）和二十二碳六烯酸（DHA，22：6 n-3），长链多不饱和脂肪酸（LCPUFA）均参与胎儿发育，并基于它们的发育百分比的成分似乎是在胎儿循环中以一种称为生物放大作用的现象特别蓄积的。关于妊娠糖尿病（GDM）对循环脂肪酸影响的文献存在差异。我们的目标是分析来自有和没有GDM的孕妇的大量母体和脐带配对血清样本中的个体脂肪酸浓度。方法在足月时抽取了84名GDM和血糖水平得到良好控制的妇女和90名健康孕妇（对照组）的过夜空腹母体和脐带血配对样本。通过气相色谱法分析总血清脂质中的各个脂肪酸，并以脂肪酸的浓度（mmol / l）和总脂肪酸的百分比表示。结果在过夜禁食的GDM孕妇的血清中，除AA和DHA保持不变外，大多数脂肪酸的浓度均低于对照组。GDM组脐带血清中大多数脂肪酸的浓度也低于对照组，除了α-亚麻酸（ALA，18：3 n-3）高于GDM组。在两组中，脐带血清中所有脂肪酸的浓度均低于母体血清中的所有脂肪酸。仅在GDM参与者中，观察到脐带与孕妇的AA和DHA血清浓度呈正相关且显着相关。结论/解释摩尔浓度的脂肪酸表达表明，GDM降低了母体和脐带血清中大多数脂肪酸的浓度。胎儿对孕妇AA和DHA的依赖性很高，但我们的发现不支持这两种LCPUFA的胎儿生物放大作用。