Serum metabolic profiling in patients with hypothyroidism in pregnancy.

Objective: To explore the potential metabolic markers related to gestational hypothyroidism in early diagnosis, to find new intervention targets, and to provide metabolic pathway information for elucidating the pathogenesis of gestational hypothyroidism.

Methods: Sixteen patients with gestational hypothyroidism treated in a tertiary hospital of China were enrolled. 20 normal pregnant women and 20 healthy women of childbearing age were also selected as control groups. Fasting serum samples were collected from all participants. The platform of liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry was applied for detecting. The principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least square discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) models were constructed for metabolic profile analysis. Characteristic metabolites were screened and statistically studied by Mann-Whitney test, and the biological functions and metabolic pathways of characteristic metabolites were further analyzed.

Results: 13 characteristic metabolites were screened. Palmitic acid, phytosphingosine, sphinganine, phytanic acid, palmitic amide, behenic acid, cetoleic acid, cerebronic acid, N-Palmitoylsphingosine, octadecanamidein in gestational hypothyroidism group were significantly higher than those in normal pregnancy group and healthy control group (p < 0.05). The serum levels of three kinds of lysophosphatidylcholine in gestational hypothyroidism group were significantly lower than those in normal pregnancy group and healthy control group (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: A total of 13 characteristic metabolites were screened, whose serum levels in the gestational hypothyroidism group had the same changing trend compared to those in the normal pregnancy group and the healthy control group, with statistical differences. This may provide new ideas for early diagnosis and finding new treatment targets for gestational hypothyroidism.