Obesity in Pregnancy Stimulates Macrophage Accumulation and Inflammation in the Placenta
Section snippets
Subjects and methods
The monoclonal antibody against human CD68, clone PGM-1 and the FITC-conjugated anti-CD68 were from DakoCytomation (Glostrup, Denmark). The monoclonal mouse antibody against human CD14, clone 7, was from Novocastra Laboratories Ltd (Newcastle, UK). The PE and FITC-conjugated CD14 and CD11b were from Abcam (Cambridge, MA). The FITC-conjugated CD133 was from Miltenyi-Biotech (Auburn, CA). The secondary antibodies anti-Rb biotin and streptavidin-HRP were from Vector (Burlingame, CA).
Obesity in pregnancy is associated with peripheral inflammation
Increased circulating concentrations of IL-6 (4.2 ± 0.3 vs 2.7 ± 0.2 ng/ml) and CRP (10,450 ± 602 vs 8162 ± 926 ng/ml) were detected in the plasma of obese women compared to lean women. By contrast there was no change in circulating TNF-alpha (Table 2). The doubling in insulin concentrations was associated with a 4 fold increase in insulin resistance measured by the HOMA index (Table 2). The higher adiposity of the obese women was supported by their higher circulating leptin concentration. Obese women
Discussion
Accumulation of macrophages with production of pro-inflammatory molecules, an immunological response of inflamed tissues, has emerged as a common feature of the chronic metabolic disturbances associated with insulin resistance. For example, macrophage infiltration in expanding adipose tissue is a mechanism contributing to the development of obesity and its stream of associated co-morbidities [27]. Pregnancy is another situation characterized by profound metabolic modifications i.e. increased
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Patricia Mencin for recruitment of study participants and Larraine Presley for help with data analysis. The study was supported by grants of Diabetes Association of Greater Cleveland to SHM, National Institute of Health HD-22965 and GCRC MO-1, RR-00080 to PMC.
References (44)
- et al.
The placenta cytokine network and inflammatory signals
Placenta
(2006) - et al.
Normal pregnancy and preeclampsia both produce inflammatory changes in peripheral blood leukocytes akin to those of sepsis
Am J Obstet Gynecol
(1998) - et al.
Phenotypic and metabolic characteristics of monocytes and granulocytes in preeclampsia
Am J Obstet Gynecol
(2001) - et al.
Trophoblast deportation in human pregnancy – its relevance for pre-eclampsia
Placenta
(1999) - et al.
NK cells and human pregnancy – an inflammatory view
Trends Immunol
(2006) - et al.
Criteria for screening tests for gestational diabetes
Am J Obstet Gynecol
(1982) - et al.
Anthropometric estimation of neonatal body composition
Am J Obstet Gynecol
(1995) - et al.
Human trophoblast contains an intracellular protein reactive with an antibody against CD133 – a novel marker for trophoblast
Placenta
(2001) - et al.
Longitudinal changes in glucose metabolism during pregnancy in obese women with normal glucose tolerance and gestational diabetes mellitus
Am J Obstet Gynecol
(1999) - et al.
Preeclampsia: an excessive maternal inflammatory response to pregnancy
Am J Obstet Gynecol
(1999)