Scientific Programme
Sports and Exercise Medicine and Health
IS-MH02 - International perspective on how PA impacts mother, cord, & baby metabolome & inflammation
Date: 01.07.2025, Time: 13:30 - 14:45, Session Room: Arco
Description
Physical activity (PA) is vital for people of all ages and stages of life. Prenatal PA is important as it contributes to maternal and child health. The in-utero environment shapes the offspring’s future health. Globally, too few women meet the recommended guidelines for prenatal PA. This lack of adherence is partly due to not knowing the recommendations, not fully understanding the safety and positive outcomes of PA in pregnancy. By combining Applied Sports, Physiology, and Sports & Exercise/Medicine & Health perspective, our session will present new evidence for the global promotion of prenatal PA. We will share new clinically relevant multidisciplinary research explaining the impact of PA/exercise on the health of mother, placenta, and child. We present data on the association between PA and maternal & cord blood metabolome and how this relates to pregnancy outcomes. Next, we will summarize the influence of concurrent PA on maternal-placental-fetal inflammatory cytokines & metabolites for mother and neonate. Lastly, we will move to the influence of specific exercise types during pregnancy on neonate and downstream infant inflammatory cytokines & metabolites related to health outcomes. We will discuss how this relates to clinical practice for healthcare and exercise professionals, for those interested in or who are pregnant. We will provide an overview on how clinicians, exercise professionals, and individuals can apply these outcomes in their practice and personal lives.
Chair(s)
Linda May
East Carolina University, Kinesiology
United States
Speaker A
Kristi Adamo
University of Ottawa, Health Sciences
Canada
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Gestational Parent & Cord Blood Metabolome Links to Physical Activity Status in Pregnancy
Background: Gestational physical activity (PA) reduces the risk of pregnancy and birth complications, such as gestational diabetes, gestational hypertension, and macrosomia. While the benefits of PA during pregnancy are well documented, the mechanisms behind these effects remain unclear. Studying the metabolome and how it responds to PA can be valuable in understanding these mechanisms. Investigating the metabolome response to PA may clarify these mechanisms, yet limited data exist on the metabolomic profile of gestational parents (gesP) and cord blood metabolome associations with PA. Purpose: We aimed to i) examine the association between PA and gesP serum metabolome in mid-pregnancy, ii) explore cord blood metabolome associations with PA for participants who maintained their PA status from mid (24-28 weeks) to late gestation (34-38 weeks). Methods: Twenty-nine participants were classified as “active” or “inactive” based on their objectively assessed (accelerometer) PA data. Untargeted metabolomics using Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry provided a global metabolic profile, with data processed in MS-DIAL and analyzed via MetaboAnalyst 6.0. Results: Based on the clustering of the samples in PCA and PLS-DA plots, no major serum metabolome differences were found between physically active and inactive pregnancies. Inactive participants were shown to have higher pipecolic acid, a lysine derivative. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis revealed that pipecolic acid and phosphatidylcholine (18:1e/8-HEPE) exhibited a fair ability to discriminate between the active and inactive groups (AUC>0.7). The cord blood metabolome analysis revealed a moderate separation between the metabolome of babies born to active vs. inactive pregnancies. Babies born to active pregnancies showed significantly lower levels of phenylalanine, valine, threonine, lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) 16:0, LPC 18:2, LPC 18:1, O-acetylcarnitine, and 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid. ROC analysis identified several metabolites with discriminatory power in cord blood. The marked difference between the gesP and cord blood metabolomes suggests a closer correlation between cord blood metabolome and the placental metabolome than gesP serum metabolome. Conclusion: Gestational PA can affect the gesP and fetal metabolome, with the magnitude of the effect being much higher in the fetus. The protective effects of gestational PA likely modulate pathways involving the identified metabolites, possibly by enhancing antioxidant capacity and reducing inflammation.
Speaker B
Pedro Acosta-Manzano
University of Graz, Department of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Sports Science
Austria
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Maternal-placental-fetal cytokines & metabolites related to physical activity
Pregnancy induces remarkable immunometabolic changes in physiology to support maternal, placental-fetal demands, thus ensuring a successful gestation. Challenges to homeostasis are common in pregnancy. For some women, particularly those exposed to an adverse lifestyle (e.g., suboptimal eating habits, sedentary time, sleep hygiene, or stress), these alterations might lead to adverse short- and long-term outcomes. Indeed, the harmful consequences related to a dysfunctional metabolic machinery in pregnancy have the potential to negatively affect not only one life, but two (the mother and child), and possibly the next generation. Consequently, research institutions are focused on identifying effective strategies to promote an optimal maternal and intrauterine environment, and to break the maternal-fetal intergenerational diabesity cycle. In this regard, physical activity (PA) and exercise are promising tools to optimize metabolic control during pregnancy, and thus avoid potential complications and future diseases, such as obesity. Unfortunately, available evidence remains scarce and inconclusive, leaving many questions unanswered. To address this knowledge gap, we have led and collaborated on several pregnancy clinical studies examining the impact of PA on maternal, placental and fetal phenotypes, as well as the biological mechanisms driving PA beneficial adaptations. We have demonstrated that maternal PA and concurrent exercise of moderate to vigorous intensity can optimize the inflammatory profile of pregnant women with a healthy weight and with overweight-obesity, and of their fetuses. Exercise was also found to slightly attenuate the maternal–fetal pro-inflammatory status (pro-inflammatory cytokines) associated with excessive weight gain. Additionally, our results showed that the influence of exercise on traditional maternal metabolites (e.g., lipids) was minimal, except in those exercisers who increased the levels of specific cytokines (IL-8), where exercise was related to lower maternal total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol gains. Regarding placental adaptations, we have shown that sedentary time during pregnancy is related to higher placental IL-6 gene expression and lower cord blood IL-6 content, while moderate-to-vigorous PA has minimal influence. Moreover, we identified placental IL-6 gene expression as a potential mechanism linking sedentary behaviour to neonatal adiposity. Finally, our recent findings suggest that exercise modulates key placental cytokines and metabolites involved in placental-fetal adaptations in a sex-dependent manner. Thus, this lecture will provide deeper insights into how maternal sedentary time, PA and exercise influence maternal, placental and fetal cytokines and metabolites in pregnant women with a healthy weight status and/or with overweight/obesity. The target audience of this lecture are exercise scientists, physiologists, and clinicians working with pregnant women and children.
Speaker C
Linda May
East Carolina University, Kinesiology
United States
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Infant cytokines & metabolites related to maternal exercise types & clinical impact
World-wide there are increasing rates of non-communicable diseases, such as obesity, and cardiovascular disease, especially in women of child-bearing age. Thus, it is critical to develop strategies to prevent the intergenerational cycle of obesity. Data supports that maternal physical activity (PA), and exercise positively influence pregnancy outcomes and offspring health. However, little is known about maternal exercise type on infant health phenotype via metabolite and inflammatory signatures. To elucidate the biological mechanisms behind positive adaptations to maternal exercise and identify potential targets for clinicians and future interventions, we assessed infant metabolite & inflammatory markers; women did aerobic (AE), strength (SE), combination (aerobic + strength, AESE), or attention-control (CON) for 24+ weeks of pregnancy. We hypothesized that any maternal exercise type will be associated with improved infant metabolite and inflammatory profile. Blood samples from the infant were processed with Untargeted metabolomics using Liquid Chromatography-Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) for a global metabolic profile, as well as multiplex kits for pro- and anti- inflammatory cytokine expression. Based on clustering, there are 4 distinct metabolite signatures from infants exposed to maternal exercise types. There are specific pathways that are up- and down-regulated in the exercise-exposed infants relative to infants from controls; however, there are also exercise-type specific metabolite changes as well. Additionally, key cytokine expression (i.e., IL-6, IL-8) are different based on exercise-type exposure in utero. We will discuss the impact of maternal exercise mode on infant cytokine and metabolomic phenotype relative to infants of those in the non-exercise group. Maternal exercise is also associated with metabolic pathways associated with controlling appropriate inflammation in infants of exercisers compared to infants of controls. Our data suggests that any maternal exercise type can improve infant cytokine and metabolomic phenotype. These changes in offspring cytokine/inflammation and metabolomic signature suggest improved overall phenotype and thus could decrease the propensity to develop obesity and associated cardiometabolic conditions later in life. The target audience of this lecture are researchers in the field of physical activity in pregnancy, clinicians working with pregnant women and children, as well as exercise professionals.