Plasma phospholipid fatty acid composition and desaturase activity in women with gestational diabetes mellitus before and after delivery

AIMS: Analyze plasma phospholipid fatty acids (PPFA) composition and desaturase activity in women with gestational diabetes (GDM) and in women with a normal glucose tolerance (NGT) before and after delivery, and to evaluate the possible relationship between desaturase activity and inflammatory parameters. METHODS: PPFA composition was analyzed by gas chromatography in 21 women with GDM and from 21 with NGT, during the third trimester of pregnancy and 6 months after delivery. We used fatty acid product-to-precursor ratios to estimate desaturase activity, and we also measured in all women interleukins six and ten, tumor necrosis factor alpha and C-reactive protein. RESULTS: No significant differences were observed between NGT and GDM women in terms of PPFA composition, both in pregnancy and after pregnancy. Estimated desaturase Δ9-18 activity was significantly higher, and estimated desaturase Δ5 activity was significantly lower during pregnancy in all women. We observed no correlations between inflammatory markers and desaturases activity, during or after pregnancy, in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that GDM does not influence PPFA composition and desaturase activity during pregnancy. In addition, late pregnancy characterized by hyperinsulinemia appears to upregulate desaturase Δ9-18 activity in NGT and GDM women.