AUTHOR=Sana Si Ri Gu Leng , Lv Yang , Chen Guangmin , Guo Lei , Li Enyou TITLE=Analysis of the volatile organic compounds of epidural analgesia-ameliorated metabolic disorder in pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus based on untargeted metabolomics JOURNAL=Frontiers in Endocrinology VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2023 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/endocrinology/articles/10.3389/fendo.2023.1009888 DOI=10.3389/fendo.2023.1009888 ISSN=1664-2392 ABSTRACT=

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a metabolic disease with an increasing annual incidence. Our previous observational study found that pregnant women with gestational diabetes had mild cognitive decline, which may be related to methylglyoxal (MGO). This study aimed to investigate whether labor pain aggravates the increase in MGO and explored the protective effect of epidural analgesia on metabolism in pregnant women with GDM based on solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (SPME/GC-MS). Pregnant women with GDM were divided into a natural birth group (ND group, n = 30) and epidural analgesia group (PD group, n = 30). After fasting for ≥ 10 h overnight, venous blood samples were collected pre- and post-delivery to detect MGO, interleukin-6 (IL-6), and 8-epi-prostaglandin F2 alpha (8-iso-PGF2α) by ELISA. Serum samples were analyzed for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) using SPME-GC-MS. MGO, IL-6, and 8-iso-PGF2α levels in the ND group increased significantly post-delivery (P < 0.05) and were significantly higher in this group than the levels in the PD group (P < 0.05). Compared to the PD group, VOCs in the ND group increased significantly post-delivery. Further results indicated that propionic acid may be associated with metabolic disorders in pregnant women with GDM. Epidural analgesia can effectively improve the metabolism and immune function in pregnant women with GDM.