Aim: To prospectively investigate blood visfatin concentrations during
the perinatal period in normal pregnancies.
Methods: Visfatin concentrations were determined in maternal, umbilical
cord (representing the foetal state) and neonatal blood on day 1 (N1)
and 4 (N4).
Results: Maternal and foetal visfatin concentrations were similar (18.83
+/- 4.27 and 19.35 +/- 4.90 ng/mL, respectively). There were significant
correlations between maternal and foetal (r = 0.742, p < 0.001), as well
as between N1 and N4 (r = 0.487, p = 0.029) visfatin concentrations.
Foetal concentrations were significantly elevated compared to N1 (p =
0.032). There was no difference between N1 and N4 concentrations.
However, there was a correlation between birth weight and neonatal
visfatin concentrations: there was a mean increase in N1 and N4 visfatin
concentrations by 0.221 ng/mL and 0.292 ng/mL, respectively, for every
unit increase in customized centile (adjusted birth weight) (p = 0.021
and p = 0.005, respectively). No association was found between serum
visfatin concentrations and gender, parity or mode of delivery.
Conclusions: Expression in foetal membranes and placental transfer could
be responsible for higher blood visfatin concentrations during
intrauterine life. Customized centiles seem to be independent predictor
variables for postnatal visfatin concentrations. This finding could be
attributed to the production of visfatin in adipose tissue, a main
contributor to birth weight and consequently to customized centiles
