Diet and human reproductive system: Insight of omics approaches.

Nutrition and lifestyle have a great impact on reproduction and infertility in humans, as they are essential for certain processes such as implantation, placental growth, angiogenesis, and the transfer of nutrients from the mother to the fetus. The aim of this review is to provide the interconnection between nutrition and reproductive health through the insight of omics approaches (including metabolomics and nutrigenomics). The effect of various macronutrients, micronutrients, and some food-associated components on male and female reproduction was discussed. Recent research work was collected through database search from 2010 to 2020 to identify eligible studies. Alterations of metabolic pathways in pregnant women were deliberated with an emphasis on different strategies of lifestyle and dietary interventions. Several nutritional methods, which are important for embryonic and child neurological development, nutritional supplements to lactation, and improved gestational length along with birth weight have been emphasized. Considerable advances in omics strategies show potential technological development for improving human reproductive health.

Therapeutic concentration of ciprofloxacin and transfer across the human term placenta.

BACKGROUND: Pregnant women have an increased risk of infections, and early and decisive treatment is preferred to prevent complications. Although ciprofloxacin is very commonly used, safety aspects of maternal treatment during pregnancy are limited, and avoidance of its use during late pregnancy is recommended. OBJECTIVE: The aim is to estimate maternal-to-fetal transfer clearance of ciprofloxacin at a therapeutic concentration and to determine fetal exposure to maternally administered ciprofloxacin. STUDY DESIGN: Transplacental pharmacokinetics were determined with an ex vivo placental model, which is a reliable experimental model for estimating fetal drug exposure. Human placentas from uncomplicated term pregnancies were collected after delivery and a suitable cotyledon was cannulated. Ciprofloxacin was added at a therapeutic concentration (1.6 µg/mL) to the maternal compartment, and antipyrine was included as a reference drug (10.0 µg/mL). Samples were collected from the maternal and fetal compartment at 12 time points (-2 to 180 minutes), and the integrity and metabolic parameters were measured consecutively. Drug concentrations were determined using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. RESULTS: A total of 5 human placentas from healthy term pregnancies were collected after delivery and cannulated with success. Ciprofloxacin crossed the placenta; its mean concentration in the fetal compartment was 0.3 µg/mL, accounting for 22% (0.29/1.30; range, 15%-31%) of the maternal concentration after 3 hours. The fetal/maternal ciprofloxacin concentration ratio increased gradually over time and reached 0.53. The transfer clearance for ciprofloxacin was 0.28 mL/min (range, 0.21-0.41 mL/min) during the first hour and 0.21 mL/min (range, 0.14-0.26 mL/min) during the following 2 hours. After end perfusion, the mean tissue concentration and proportion of ciprofloxacin were 0.7 µg/g and 11% (14/130; range, 7%-14%), respectively. CONCLUSION: Ciprofloxacin crossed the placenta at a slow, constant rate, indicating moderate fetal exposure. This study verifies an accumulation of ciprofloxacin in the placenta that may lengthen the duration of fetal exposure. These results are an essential element of fetal risk assessment, but further studies are needed to estimate fetal safety.

Materno-fetal transfer of docosahexaenoic acid is impaired by gestational diabetes mellitus.

Better knowledge on the disturbed mechanisms implicated in materno-fetal long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LC-PUFA) transfer in pregnancies with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) may have potentially high implications for later on in effective LC-PUFA supplementation. We studied in vivo placental transfer of fatty acids (FA) using stable isotope tracers administrated to 11 control and 9 GDM pregnant women (6 treated with insulin). Subjects received orally [(13)C]palmitic, [(13)C]oleic and [(13)C]linoleic acids, and [(13)C]docosahexaenoic acid ((13)C-DHA) 12 h before elective caesarean section. Maternal blood samples were collected at -12, -3, -2, and -1 h, delivery, and +1 h. Placental tissue and venous cord blood were also collected. FA were quantified by gas chromatography (GC) and (13)C enrichments by GC-isotope ratio mass spectrometry. [(13)C]FA concentration was higher in total lipids of maternal plasma in GDM vs. controls, except for [(13)C]DHA. Moreover, [(13)C]DHA showed lower placenta/maternal plasma ratio in GDM vs. controls and significantly lower cord/maternal plasma ratio. For the other studied FA, ratios were not different between GDM and controls. Disturbed [(13)C]DHA placental uptake occurs in both GDM treated with diet or insulin, whereas the last ones also have lower [(13)C]DHA in venous cord. The tracer study pointed toward impaired placental DHA uptake as critical step, whereas the transfer of the rest of [(13)C]FA was less affected. GDM under insulin treatment could also have higher fetal fat storage, contributing to reduce [(13)C]DHA in venous cord. DHA transfer to the fetus was reduced in GDM pregnancies compared with controls, which might affect the programming of neurodevelopment in their neonates.