Impact of maternal smoking associated lyso-phosphatidylcholine 20:3 on offspring brain development

Maternal smoking during pregnancy affects fetal neurological development. Metabolomic studies in the general population suggest that smoking is associated with characteristic metabolic alterations. We investigated the association between the maternal smoking status, the fetal metabolome and head circumference at birth, as a surrogate parameter of brain development. 320 mother/newborn pairs of the Berlin Birth Cohort were investigated. Anthropometric parameters, including head circumference, of newborns of smoking mothers, former smoking mothers, and never smoking mothers were compared to assess the impact of maternal smoking behavior. Associations between maternal smoking behavior and 163 cord blood metabolites and associations between newborn head circumference and concentrations of smoking behavior related metabolites were analysed. Male newborns of smoking mothers had a reduced head circumference when compared with newborns from former smoking and never smoking mothers (p < 0.05). Using linear regression models corrected for established confounding factors, maternal smoking during pregnancy showed an independent association with head circumference (95% CI: -0.75～-0.41 cm, p = 2.45×10-11). In a stepwise linear regression model corrected for known confounding factors of brain growth lyso-phosphatidylcholine 20:3 (95% CI: 6.68～39.88 cm, p = 4.62×10-4) was associated with head circumference in male offspring only. None of the metabolites were associated with head circumference of female newborns. In conclusion, maternal smoking during pregnancy impacted on male offspring's development including brain development. The smoking related metabolite lyso-phosphatidylcholine 20:3 was associated with head circumference of male offspring.