Essential Fatty Acids and Their Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Metabolites in Maternal and Cord Plasma Triglycerides during Late Gestation

The fatty acid composition of plasma lipids was determined in 41 pairs of mothers and their term infants at time of birth (38–42 postmenstrual weeks) by high-resolution capillary gas-liquid chromatography. Linoleic and α-linolenic acids were found at smaller concentrations in cord than in maternal triglycerides, in contrast to strikingly higher proportions of their long-chain polyunsaturated metabolites (LC-PUFA), which indicates a preferential maternofetal transport for certain physiologically important LC-PUFA. While no significant gestational age-dependent changes occurred in maternal plasma triglycerides, the values for most of the fetal long-chain n–3 metabolites increased with the duration of gestation, possibly reflecting an increased transplacental fatty acid passage during late pregnancy or a maturation of desaturation in the fetal liver.