Study on n-3 fatty acid metabolism and transport in perinatal period

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K07730
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Food science
• Research Institution: Shokei Gakuin College
• Principal Investigator: KIMURA Fumiko 尚絅学院大学, 総合人間科学系, 准教授 (50321980)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 宮澤 陽夫 東北大学, 農学研究科, 教授 (20157639) ; 仲川 清隆 東北大学, 農学研究科, 教授 (80361145)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: ドコサヘキサエン酸 / 周産期 / 胎盤 / 不飽和脂肪酸合成

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The object of this study to elucidate the metabolism and/or transport mechanism of long chain unsaturated fatty acid (LC-PUFA) such as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in placenta. Although the DHA composition ratio of placenta differs at the collection site, this difference does not greatly affect the correlation with maternal and umbilical cord red blood cell fatty acid composition, indicating the possibility that the placenta can be used for prediction of maternal and child DHA levels .
In order to elucidate the LC-PUFA metabolism and transport regulatory function to the fetus, pregnant rats were used to study fatty acid composition of mother and infant, following gene expression analysis on LC-PUFA metabolism and transport in liver and placenta. As a result, the increase in DHA levels from day 17 to day 21 of pregnancy in fetal liver were observed. This result suggests the placenta mediated DHA supply from the mother rat was mainly cause of the increment of infant liver DHA.

Free Research Field

油脂栄養

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

血液は健康な妊婦から得られるほぼ唯一の試料であるが、単一試料の解析のみで、必須脂肪酸の摂取状況と生体での充足度を推定するのは難しい。周産期のヒトの脂肪酸組成評価にあたり、試料採取時の母体への侵襲性がなく、分娩後に廃棄されるため入手が比較的可能な胎盤に着目した。今回、胎盤DHA値は血液のDHA値をある程度反映したが、正相関を示さない脂肪酸も観察され、組織特有の情報が得られると期待される。また、動物試験では、妊娠後期にDHA値の上昇が観察され、関連するLC-PUFA代謝・輸送に関する遺伝子発現解析の情報も集まりつつある。今後、ヒト試験との結果と比較することでさらなる知見が得られると期待される。