Effects of inter-twin vascular anastomoses of monochorionic twins with selective intrauterine growth restriction on the contents of placental mitochondria DNA

Yao Lung Chang, An Shine Chao, Hsiu Huei Peng, Shuenn Dyh Chang, Sheng Yuan Su, Kuan Ju Chen, Tzu Hao Wang*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Placental mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been proposed to be an indicator for placental hypoxia. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of vascular anastomoses between monochorionic (MC) twins on placental mtDNA. Methods: In this study, twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) treated with laser therapy and MC twins without TTTS (without laser therapy) resulting in two live babies were included in this study. The placental mtDNA fold changes (FC) between the small and large twins were analyzed using real-time quantitative PCR. TTTS twins with selective intrauterine growth restriction (sIUGR) are categorized as group 1, TTTS without sIUGR as group 2, MC twins without TTTS but with sIUGR as group 3, and MC twins without both TTTS and sIUGR as group 4. Results: There were seven cases in group 1, eight in group 2, 26 in group 3, and 24 in group 4 cases. The placental mtDNA FC were significantly higher in group 1 (1.57±0.9) compared to that of the group 3 (0.86±0.6). Conclusion: In MC twin pregnancies with sIUGR, the placental mtDNA FC between the small and large twins are different between cases with and without inter-twin anastomoses. These findings suggest that the inter-twin anastomoses in the MC twins with sIUGR may provide rescue perfusion from the appropriate-for-gestational-age twin to the sIUGR one.

Original languageEnglish
Article number74
JournalBMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
Volume18
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 24 03 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Author(s).

Keywords

  • Monochorionic twins
  • Placenta mitochondria
  • Twin-twin transfusion syndrome

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