Clinical, hormonal and metabolic features of women with GDM and controls.

<p>Data are medians (interquartile range). Group comparison by Mann-Whitney <i>U</i> test.</p><p>NS = not significant.</p

FGF21 levels in conditioned media of placental explants at 48 hours were assessed by ELISA.

<p>Four independent experiments were performed. Group comparison by Mann-Whitney <i>U</i> test. *<i>P</i><0.05.</p

CSF/Plasma FGF21 ratio was significantly lower in women with GDM (<i>n = </i>14) compared to control subjects (<i>n = </i>12).

<p>Group comparison by Mann-Whitney <i>U</i> test. *<i>P</i><0.05.</p

Clinical characteristics of the women whose placentas were used for the explant studies. Subjects 1 to 4: Controls. Subjects 5 to 8: GDM.

<p>Clinical characteristics of the women whose placentas were used for the explant studies. Subjects 1 to 4: Controls. Subjects 5 to 8: GDM.</p

Secretion of IL-6, TNF-alpha and sCD163 from placental and adipose tissue explants.

<p>Measurements of adipose (A, B and C) and placental (D, E and F) explants secretion of IL6 (A and D) TNF-alpha (B and E) and sCD163 (C and F). Explants were cultured in CMRL-1066 medium (Invitrogen, Paisley, UK) supplemented with 5% Fetal Calf Serum (Invitrogen, Paisley, UK), 100 µg/ml streptomycin sulphate and 100 IU/ml penicillin. (GDM = gestational diabetes; sCD163 = Soluble CD163; IL-6 = Interleukin 6; TNF-alpha = Tumor necrosis factor alpha [*p<0.05]).</p

Correlation Analyses of maternal sCD163, maternal IL-6, maternal TNF-alpha and fetal IL-6.

<p>A Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was computed to assess the relationship between Maternal sCD163 and Maternal IL-6, Fetal IL-6 and Maternal TNF-alpha across the whole cohort, the GDM cohort and the control cohort. (* =  statistically significant.)</p><p>* = statistically significant.</p

Clinical and Biochemical characteristics of patients.

<p><b>Upper Panel</b>: Clinical characteristics of GDM and controls utilized in this study. (OGTT =  Oral glucose tolerance test, NS =  Non-significant, p<0.05*  =  statistically significant).</p><p><b>Lower Panel</b>: Biochemical profiles of maternal and cord blood from GDM and controls at delivery. (HDL =  High density lipoproteins, LDL =  Low density lipoproteins, HOMA-IR =  homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance, p<0.05* =  statistically significant.).</p><p>* = statistically significant.</p

Circulating levels of maternal and fetal IL-6, TNF-alpha and sCD163.

<p>ELISA measurements of maternal (A, B and C) and fetal (D, E and F) circulating levels of IL6 (A and D), TNF-alpha (B and E) and sCD163 (C and F). GDM = gestational diabetes; sCD163 = Soluble CD163; IL-6 = Interleukin 6; TNF-alpha = Tumor necrosis factor alpha [*p<0.05 =  statistically significant]) Details in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0101327#s2" target="_blank">Materials & Methods</a>.</p

Immunohistochemistry and cell count of CD163 positive cells in GDM (A and B) and controls (C and D) of placental (A and C) and adipose tissues (B and D).

<p>CD163 positive cells, in ten random areas at 40× magnification for placenta and adipose tissues respectively were counted and analysed using image J. Mean with SEM of CD163 positive cell in placenta (E) and adipose tissues (F) [*p<0.05, **p<0.001].</p