Whole blood fatty acid composition at birth : From the maternal compartment to the infant

BACKGROUND & AIMS: The biological role of fatty acids (FA) in the perinatal period is under active investigation. We here describe the application of a simplified microanalytical procedure to compare the FA profile of maternal, umbilical cord and infant whole blood, inclusive of all circulating lipid fractions and cells. METHODS: The FA composition has been analyzed with a micromethod in 16 triplets, including maternal blood, cord blood at delivery and infant blood at day 4, respectively. RESULTS: As expected, the FA composition of blood samples withdrawn from the umbilical cord is more similar to the FA composition of blood from 4-day old infants than the FA pattern of maternal blood at delivery. Nevertheless, infant blood FA profile differed from cord for lower long-chain polyunsaturated FA and higher monounsaturated FA. CONCLUSIONS: Our explorative data using whole blood microanalysis confirm the progressive increase of long-chain polyunsaturated FA levels from the mothers towards cord and then infant blood.