FREE AMINO ACIDS IN PLASMA OF PREGNANT WOMEN WITH CONGENITAL MALFORMATIONS AND CHROMOSOMAL ABNORMALITIES OF THE FETUS

Objective. To examine and compare the levels of free amino acids in the plasma of pregnant women with congenital malformations and chromosomal abnormalities of the fetus and women with a physiological course of pregnancy at 13-22 weeks of gestation in order to analyze the features of the metabolic processes in the woman's body and changes in the concentrations of individual free amino acids. Material and methods. A total of 104 women with prenatally diagnosed congenital malformations and chromosomal abnormalities of the fetus, which are the indications for artificial termination of pregnancy in the late stages (group I), and 25 women with physiological course of pregnancy (group II) were examined. The levels of free amino acids and their nitrogen-containing derivatives in plasma were determined by high performance liquid chromatography method. Results. Among the pregnant women in group I there was an increase in the total amount of amino acids in blood plasma by 15% (p<0.001), in the total content of essential amino acids by 12.3% (p=0.003) as well as in the level of non-essential amino acids by 13.6% (p<0.001) as compared to the control group. It was demonstrated that among the pregnant women with medical reasons for artificial termination of pregnancy due to fetal abnormalities there were significantly higher levels of 14 out of 26 determined indicators: proteinogenic amino acids of tyrosine, tryptophan, glutamic acid, asparagine, serine, glycine, alanine, methionine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, as well as nitrogen-containing derivatives of these amino acids – citrulline, ornithine and α-aminobutyric acid – as compared to the control group. The median value of the glutamic acid, glycine, citruliline, aminobutyric acid, ornithine and lysine levels was 1.5 (p<0.001), 1.67 (p<0.001), 1.63 (p<0.001), 1.9 (p<0.001), 1.62 (p=0.001) and 1.5 (p<0.001) times higher than in the control group (p<0.05) correspondingly. Conclusions. Features of changes in amino acids levels can probably be used as integral indicators of the development and prognostic criteria of the presence of pathological conditions of the fetus during pregnancy, as well as indicate the catabolic orientation of metabolic processes in the body of this category of pregnant women.