Impaired mitochondrial fusion, autophagy, biogenesis and dysregulated lipid metabolism is associated with preeclampsia

Preeclampsia(PE) is a pregnancy complication that is diagnosed by the new onset of hypertension and proteinuria. The etiology of PE remains unclear; however, growing evidence indicates that mitochondrial impairment contributes to the pathogenesis. Therefore, we aim to investigate the function of mitochondria in the development of PE. The mitochondrial metabolome in preeclamptic (n = 11) and normal (n = 11) placentas were analyzed using Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Student's t-tests and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were conducted to determine which mitochondrial metabolites differed significantly between the two groups. The Pathway Activity Profiling (PAPi) R package was used to predict which metabolic pathways were affected by PE. Western blot analysis was performed to identify the candidate proteins which were associated with mitochondrial repair regulation. GC-MS analysis demonstrated that higher levels of 38 metabolites and lower levels of 2 metabolites were observed in the placenta of patients with severe PE (sPE). Five fatty acids had an area under the ROC curve above 90%. Furthermore, we revealed abnormal regulation of mitochondrial dynamics, autophagy, and biogenesis in sPE. Our discoveries indicate that the compromised lipid metabolism in sPE may result from dysfunctional mitochondria, thus revealing new insights into the etiology of the disease.