Plasma metabolic disturbances during pregnancy and postpartum in women with depression

• Published in: iScience 2022-12, Vol.25 (12), p.105666-105666, Article 105666
• Main Authors: Yu, Zhiqian, Matsukawa, Naomi, Saigusa, Daisuke, Motoike, Ikuko N., Ono, Chiaki, Okamura, Yasunobu, Onuma, Tomomi, Takahashi, Yuta, Sakai, Mai, Kudo, Hisaaki, Obara, Taku, Murakami, Keiko, Shirota, Matusyuki, Kikuchi, Saya, Kobayashi, Natsuko, Kikuchi, Yoshie, Sugawara, Junichi, Minegishi, Naoko, Ogishima, Soichi, Kinoshita, Kengo, Yamamoto, Masayuki, Yaegashi, Nobuo, Kuriyama, Shinichi, Koshiba, Seizo, Tomita, Hiroaki
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological sciences; Metabolomics; Physiology
• ISSN: 2589-0042; 2589-0042
• DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105666

Examining plasma metabolic profiling during pregnancy and postpartum could help clinicians understand the risk factors for postpartum depression (PPD) development. This analysis targeted paired plasma metabolites in mid-late gestational and 1 month postpartum periods in women with (n = 209) or without (n = 222) PPD. Gas chromatogram-mass spectrometry was used to analyze plasma metabolites at these two time points. Among the 170 objected plasma metabolites, principal component analysis distinguished pregnancy and postpartum metabolites but failed to discriminate women with and without PPD. Compared to women without PPD, those with PPD exhibited 37 metabolites with disparate changes during pregnancy and the 1-month postpartum period and an enriched citrate cycle. Machine learning and multivariate statistical analysis identified two or three compounds that could be potential biomarkers for PPD prediction during pregnancy. Our findings suggest metabolic disturbances in women with depression and may help to elucidate metabolic processes associated with PPD development. [Display omitted] •Maternal plasma metabolite level changes from pregnancy to postpartum•PPD is related to metabolic disturbances during pregnancy•Disturbance metabolites enrich the citrate cycle•Gestational metabolites can predict PPD during pregnancy Biological sciences; Physiology; Metabolomics