Metabolomics reveals effects of maternal smoking on endogenous metabolites from lipid metabolism in cord blood of newborns

INTRODUCTION: A general detrimental effect of smoking during pregnancy on the health of newborn children is well-documented, but the detailed mechanisms remain elusive. OBJECTIVES: Beside the specific influence of environmental tobacco smoke derived toxicants on developmental regulation the impact on the metabolism of newborn children is of particular interest, first as a general marker of foetal development and second due to its potential predictive value for the later occurrence of metabolic diseases. METHODS: Tobacco smoke exposure information from a questionnaire was confirmed by measuring the smoking related metabolites S-Phenyl mercapturic acid, S-Benzyl mercapturic acid and cotinine in maternal urine by LC–MS/MS. The impact of smoking on maternal endogenous serum metabolome and children’s cord blood metabolome was assessed in a targeted analysis of 163 metabolites by an LC–MS/MS based assay. The anti-oxidative status of maternal serum samples was analysed by chemoluminiscence based method. RESULTS: Here we present for the first time results of a metabolomic assessment of the cordblood of 40 children and their mothers. Several analytes from the group of phosphatidylcholines, namely PCaaC28:1, PCaaC32:3, PCaeC30:1, PCaeC32:2, PCaeC40:1, and sphingomyelin SM C26:0, differed significantly in mothers and children’s sera depending on smoking status. In serum of smoking mothers the antioxidative capacity of water soluble compounds was not significantly changed while there was a significant decrease in the lipid fraction. CONCLUSION: Our data give evidence that smoking during pregnancy alters both the maternal and children’s metabolome. Whether the different pattern found in adults compared to newborn children could be related to different disease outcomes should be in the focus of future studies. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11306-016-0983-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.