Results
The demographic and clinical features of the two groups are presented in Table 1. HM patients have more hyperemesis symptoms (nausea and vomiting) than the controls, however, there were no correlation between the urine ketone levels and the serum FAA and carnitine levels in HM group (p>0.05). Also, the correlation analysis showed that there were no correlations between the plasma FAAs, carnitine levels, circulating β-Hcg levels, gestational ages, and maternal ages (p>0.05).
The outcome of the participants in the control group were followed, and no pregnancy complications were observed during pregnancy. In addition, other parameters releated with birth, such as birth weight and gestational week at delivery, were normal in this group.
Of the 14 amino acids, there were no significant differences in the plasma FAA profiles between the controls and the HM patients, except for alanine, arginine, and valine, their levels were significantly lower in the HM group (475.46 ± 103.55 vs 556.99 ± 105.16, p = 0.019; 428.87 ± 138.91 vs 547.11 ± 140.20, p = 0.009; and 290.96 ± 97.10 vs 358.61 ± 75.40, p = 0.03; respectively) (Table 2). In addition, a few of the 27 carnitines examined (i.e., C8DC, C16:1, and C18) were significantly higher in the HM group than in the control group (0.07 ± 0.06 µmol/L vs 0.03 ± 0.01 µmol/L, p = 0.021; 0.18 ± 0.09 µmol/L vs 0.10 ± 0.06 µmol/L, p = 0.03; and 0.07 ± 0.02 µmol/L vs 0.03 ± 0.01 µmol/L, p = 0.021; respectively) (Table 3).
The Row-Z score in the heat map system of the FAA levels in maternal plasma of HM patients and healthy pregnants is shown in Fig. 1. The colour change from green to red on the map represents an increase in amino acid levels. In HM patients, 3 of the plasma FAAs (i.e., valine, alanine, and arginine) were found to be lower than those of the controls. The dispersion of carnitine values is demonstrated as a heat map grafic in Fig.2. The red color on the map shows high carnitine values. C8DC, C16:1, and C18 values were significantly higher in the HM group than in the control group.