Influence of Maternal One Carbon Metabolites on Placental Epigenetic Patterns in Pregnancy Complications

Abstract

Maternal nutrition is known to influence lifelong health of both mother and the offspring. During pregnancy, maintenance of an adequate supply of nutrients is critical for normal fetal growth. Nutrients such as fatty acids and their metabolites are important at every stage of pregnancy and support cell growth and development, cell signaling, and regulate structural and functional processes (Duttaroy et al., 2020). Metabolites and cofactors involved in one carbon metabolism including folate, vitamin B12, vitamin B6, homocysteine, glutathione also play a critical role in fetal growth and can have both immediate and long term consequences for the mother and the offspring (Kalhan et al., 2016). A sub optimal nutritional status affects the pregnancy outcome and might lead to complications including preeclampsia (PE). newlinePreeclampsia is a pregnancy disorder characterized by new onset hypertension (and#8805;140mmHg systolic or and#8805;90mm Hg diastolic on at least two occasions 6 hours apart) and proteinuria occurring after 20 weeks of gestation (Gathiram et al., 2016). It is a major cause of both maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality and affects up to 2-8% pregnancies worldwide (ACOG, 2019) and 8-10% pregnancies in India (NHP.,2016). The pathogenesis of preeclampsia is poorly understood, however, it is related to disturbed placentation which is followed by inflammation and endothelial damage (NHP,2016). Considerable evidence suggests that preeclampsia is associated with disturbed placental angiogenesis and vascular dysfunction which influences fetal growth (Powe et al.,2011; Pratt et al.,2015). newline