Relationship between maternal omentin-1 levels and clinical features.

<p>Scatter plots depicting the relationship between log maternal omentin 1 versus (<b>A</b>) maternal BMI at 12 weeks, (<b>B</b>) fasting OGTT at 28 weeks, (<b>C</b>) log maternal HOMA-IR at delivery and (<b>D</b>) fetal ponderal index.</p

Localisation of omentin-1 in human placenta.

<p>(<b>A</b>) Immunohistochemical localisation of omentin-1 protein in human placenta. Omentin-1 staining was mainly contained in syncytiotrophoblasts (sy) and endothelial cells (ec). Magnification 400×. (<b>B</b>) No specific staining is seen in the negative control for placenta. Magnification 250×.</p

Effect of obesity on omentin-1 expression and release from placenta and omental adipose tissue.

<p>Omentin-1 (<b>A</b>) gene expression and (<b>B</b>) release from human placenta and omental adipose tissue obtained from NGT non-obese (n = 14 for placenta and = 13 for omental) and obese (n = 8) pregnant women. Each bar represents the mean ± SEM. *<i>P</i><0.05 vs. non-obese placenta; ^†<i>P</i><0.05 vs. non-obese adipose tissue.</p

Effect of pregnancy on circulating omentin-1 levels.

<p>Omentin-1 levels in women at 11 and 28 weeks gestation and 7 weeks postpartum (non pregnant). Each bar represents the mean ± SEM (n = 11 per group). *<i>P</i><0.05 vs. 11 weeks gestation.</p

Effect of GDM on omentin-1 expression and release from placenta and omental adipose tissue.

<p>Omentin-1 (<b>A</b>) gene expression and (<b>B</b>) release from human placenta and omental adipose tissue from NGT (n = 22 for placenta; n = 21 for omental and subcutaneous adipose tissue) and GDM (n = 22 for placenta; n = 20 for omental adipose tissue; n = 19 for subcutaneous adipose tissue) pregnant women. Each bar represents the mean ± SEM.</p

Plasma study: Characteristics of the study group.

<p>Values represent mean ± SEM.</p>*<p><i>P</i><0.05 vs. NGT non-obese;</p>**<p><i>P</i><0.05 vs. GDM non-obese.</p>§<p>Rohrer's ponderal index is defined as birthweight (g)/birth length³ (cm³) ×100 <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0042943#pone.0042943-Lehingue1" target="_blank">[39]</a>.</p>‡<p>OGTT – oral glucose tolerance test at ∼28 weeks gestation.</p

Multiple linear regression analysis.

<p>NS, not significant.</p

Spearman's rank order correlation analysis.

<p>Spearman's rank order correlation analysis.</p

The effect of sexual intercourse and vaginal microbiology status on VDBP concentration.

<p>(A) Unprotected sexual intercourse within 48 h of CVF collection did not affect the VDBP concentration in women who delivered either term (<i>P</i> = 0.237) or preterm (<i>P</i> = 0.406, 2-way ANOVA). (B) The microbiology status of women with subsequent preterm or term labour did not affect the VDBP concentration. Within each labour group, VDBP was not significantly different between women with normal vaginal flora, Group B Streptococcus (GBS) colonisation, <i>Candida</i> spp. colonisation, <i>Ureaplasma</i> spp. colonisation, and women with mixed colonisation (Term: <i>P</i> = 0.478, Preterm: <i>P</i> = 0.557; 2-way ANOVA). The box and whisker plots represent the median and interquartile range with the 5^th and 95^th centile range. Outliers are represented by open circles.</p

The VDBP concentration in the CVF significantly increased with advancing gestational age.

<p>The * indicates significance in the VDBP concentration in gestational groups ≤30–31 weeks' compared with CVF samples collected ≥36 weeks' gestation. The † indicates significance in VDBP concentration between samples collected at 36 and 37 weeks' gestation compared with samples collected at 40 and 41 weeks' gestation. Statistical significance was defined as <i>P</i><0.05 (2-way ANOVA). The box and whisker plots represent the median and interquartile range with the 5^th and 95^th centile range. Outliers are represented by open circles.</p