Quantificazione via ICP-MS e analisi chemiometrica degli elementi contenuti in placente di donne affette da diabete mellito gestazionale

Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is a syndrome characterized by disorder in metabolism and abnormally high blood sugar (hyperglycaemia) resulting from low levels of insulin and abnormal resistance to the action of this hormone. GDM affects women during pregnancy that before it where not diabetic. This syndrome generally disappears after delivery but involves lots of complications during the gestation for both mother and fetus. In this study we analyzed placentas to find elemental markers of GDM that could be used to develop new strategies for the therapy of this kind of diabetes. We analyzed placentas of women affected by GDM (28 samples) and of a control group (19 samples), using ICP-MS after acid digestion with microwave heating. Of each sample maternal and fetal face have been analyzed separately. In addition elements in blood samples of the same patients have determined; even in this case maternal and fetal blood (from the umbilical cord) have been analyzed separately. Non parametric statistical test of Wilcoxon Mann Whitney and parametric t-test of Student have been used to compare concentration of all elements between the two groups of women. Statistical test for the confrontation of data paired (dependent) has permitted to compare concentration of all elements between maternal and fetal face of the same placenta. Eventually Principal Component Analysis (PCA) has been used to represent data. The result showed that selenium is more concentrated in placentas of women affected by GDM (average median value (a.m.v.): 0.708 μg/g d.w.) than in the control group (a.m.v.: 0.661 μg/g d.w.) (p<0.001) while cadmium is more concentrated in the control group (a.m.v.: 0.051 μg/g d.w.) than in the diabetic group (a.m.v.: 0.035 μg/g d.w.) (p<0.001). From the analysis of blood emerged that selenium is more concentrated in the diabetic group (a.m.v.: 0.063 μg/g) (p<0.001) than in the control group (a.m.v.: 0.045 μg/g) while aluminium is more concentrated in the control group (median: 1.123 μg/g) than in the diabetic group (median: 1.065 μg/g) (p<0.001). We concluded that GDM is associated to higher level of selenium in both placenta and blood and lower level of cadmium and aluminium respectively in placenta and blood. In the future we suggest to wash placentas to diminish the contribute of blood, to analyze more samples and always the same peace of placenta to diminish the contribute of the variation in the concentration of the elements between different samples and within the single one.