Buell-Acosta, Julieth DanielaGarces, Maria FernandaParada-Baños, Arturo JoseAngel-Muller, EdithPaez, Maria CarolinaEslava-Schmalbach, JavierEscobar-Cordoba, FranklinCaminos-Cepeda, Sofia AlexandraLacunza, EzequielCastaño, Justo PNogueiras, RubenDieguez, CarlosRuiz-Parra, Ariel IvanCaminos, Jorge Eduardo2023-05-032023-05-032022-07-17Buell-Acosta JD, Garces MF, Parada-Baños AJ, Angel-Muller E, Paez MC, Eslava-Schmalbach J, et al. Maternal Fibroblast Growth Factor 21 Levels Decrease during Early Pregnancy in Normotensive Pregnant Women but Are Higher in Preeclamptic Women-A Longitudinal Study. Cells. 2022 Jul 21;11(14):2251http://hdl.handle.net/10668/20933(1) Background: Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF-21) is an endocrine factor involved in glucose and lipid metabolism that exerts pleiotropic effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the serum FGF-21 profile in healthy and mild preeclamptic pregnant women at each trimester of pregnancy; (2) Methods: Serum FGF-21 levels were determined by ELISA in a nested case-control study within a longitudinal cohort study that included healthy (n = 54) and mild preeclamptic (n = 20) pregnant women, women at three months after delivery (n = 20) and eumenorrheic women during the menstrual cycle (n = 20); (3) Results: FGF-21 levels were significantly lower in the mid-luteal phase compared to the early follicular phase of the menstrual cycle in eumenorrheic women (p< 0.01). Maternal levels of FGF-21 were significantly lower in the first and second trimesters and peaked during the third trimester in healthy pregnant women (p < 0.01). Serum levels of FGF-21 in healthy pregnant were significantly lower in the first and second trimester of pregnancy compared with the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle and postpartum (p < 0.01). Serum FGF-21 levels were significantly higher in preeclamptic compared to healthy pregnant women during pregnancy (p < 0.01); (4) Conclusions: These results suggest that a peak of FGF-21 towards the end of pregnancy in healthy pregnancy and higher levels in preeclamptic women might play a critical role that contributes to protecting against the negatives effects of high concentrations of non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) and hypertensive disorder. Furthermore, FGF-21 might play an important role in reproductive function in healthy eumenorrheic women during the menstrual cycle.enAttribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/FGF-21Menstrual cyclePreeclampsiaPregnancyCase-control studiesFemaleFibroblast growth factorsHumansLongitudinal studiesPre-eclampsiaPregnancyPregnant womenresearch article35883694open accessEmbarazoEstudios longitudinalesEstudios de casos y controlesFactores de crecimiento de fibroblastosMujeres embarazadasPreeclampsia10.3390/cells111422512073-4409PMC9322099https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/11/14/2251/pdf?version=1658378444https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9322099/pdf