PLoS ONE (Jan 2022)

High maternal BMI and low maternal blood BDNF may determine the limit of detection of amniotic fluid BDNF throughout gestation: Analysis of mother-fetus trios and literature review

  • Anne Flöck,
  • Alexandru Odainic,
  • Ramona Dolscheid-Pommerich,
  • Michael Robert Jaskolski,
  • Anna Katharina Diedrich,
  • Marie Therese Puth,
  • Susanne Schmidt,
  • Birgit Stoffel-Wagner,
  • Brigitte Strizek,
  • Ulrich Gembruch,
  • Waltraut Maria Merz

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 17, no. 3

Abstract

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Objective An increasing number of studies show the importance of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) acting at the feto-placental interface, however, only a few studies describe BDNF levels in amniotic fluid (AF). Methods In this cross-sectional, prospective study, 109 maternal blood-amniotic fluid pairs (including 66 maternal blood-fetal-blood-amniotic fluid trios) were analyzed. BDNF concentrations were measured with a commercially available immunoassay. Results In 71 AF from 109 samples, AF-BDNF concentrations were below the lowest limit of Quantitation (LLoQ) of 1.19 pg/ml (group A), leaving 38 samples with measurable BDNF concentrations (group B). Patients in group A showed significantly higher maternal BMI before pregnancy (mean±SD 26.3± 6.7 (kg/m2) vs. 23.8 ±4.5 (kg/m2) p = 0.04) and lower maternal blood BDNF concentrations than the other group (mean±SD 510.6 ± 554.7 pg/ml vs. mean±SD 910.1± 690.1 pg/ml; pConclusion Our study is the first to correlate AF-BDNF samples with the corresponding maternal and fetal blood-BDNF samples. The significant negative correlation between maternal BMI before pregnancy and maternal BDNF and AF-BDNF concentrations below the limit of detection has to be evaluated in further studies.