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. 2013 May;162(5):930-6.e1.
doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2012.11.017. Epub 2012 Dec 20.

Intrahepatic fat is increased in the neonatal offspring of obese women with gestational diabetes

David E Brumbaugh  1 , Phillip Tearse, Melanie Cree-Green, Laura Z Fenton, Mark Brown, Ann Scherzinger, Regina Reynolds, Meredith Alston, Camille Hoffman, Zhaoxing Pan, Jacob E Friedman, Linda A Barbour
Affiliations

Intrahepatic fat is increased in the neonatal offspring of obese women with gestational diabetes

David E Brumbaugh et al. J Pediatr. 2013 May.

Abstract

Objectives: To assess precision magnetic resonance imaging in the neonate and determine whether there is an early maternal influence on the pattern of neonatal fat deposition in the offspring of mothers with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and obesity compared with the offspring of normal-weight women.

Study design: A total of 25 neonates born to normal weight mothers (n = 13) and to obese mothers with GDM (n = 12) underwent magnetic resonance imaging for the measurement of subcutaneous and intra-abdominal fat and magnetic resonance spectroscopy for the measurement of intrahepatocellular lipid (IHCL) fat at 1-3 weeks of age.

Results: Infants born to obese/GDM mothers had a mean 68% increase in IHCL compared with infants born to normal-weight mothers. For all infants, IHCL correlated with maternal prepregnancy body mass index but not with subcutaneous adiposity.

Conclusion: Deposition of liver fat in the neonate correlates highly with maternal body mass index. This finding may have implications for understanding the developmental origins of childhood nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A, Each point represents the mean of two observers for the MRI-measured voxels of intra-abdominal fat according to location within the abdominal cavity. There is a non-linear trend in intra-abdominal fat across the abdominal cavity. As one moves inferiorly through the abdomen (left to right on x-axis), intra-abdominal fat first increases and then decreases. B, For measure of inter-observer variability, a Bland-Altman Plot of the difference in abdominal visceral fat measured by two independent observers against the mean abdominal visceral fat measured in 524 abdominal cross-sectional images. When voxels are converted to cm3 (1 voxel = 0.00076 cm3), the bias for the Bland-Altman plot is -0.005 cm3 and the Limits of Agreement are -0.88 cm3 and 0.87 cm3.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Box-and-Whisker plot of distribution of water content in liver and 20% IV Fat Emulsion external reference as measured by Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in 20 neonates. Box shows 25%-75% range of values, whiskers show entire range of values.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Relationship between Intrahepatocellular lipid and maternal pre-pregnancy BMI. Intrahepatocellular lipid = ratio hepatic fat to 20% IV Fat Emulsion fat. White circles = infants born to normal weight mothers. Black circles = infants born to obese, GDM mothers.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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