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Deoxyribonucleic Acid, Ribonucleic Acid, and Protein in the Placentas of Normal and Selected Complicated Pregnancies¹

George H. Nolan², Masoud Nahavandi, Cecile H. Edwards^*, Enid M. Knight^*, Allan A. Johnson^*, Ura Jean Oyemade^*, O. Jackson Cole, Ouida E. Westney^*, Lennox S. Westney and Dvon Winborne

Nutrition Program Project ^* Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Allied Health Sciences ^* Department of Human Development, School of Education; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, College of Medicine, Howard University, Washington, D. C. 20059

Placenta from uncomplicated term pregnancies resulting in the birth of male infants weighing between 2900 and 3800 grams were analyzed for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), ribonucleic acid (RNA), and protein content. The mothers of the infants all had prepregnancy weights within ±15 percent expected body weight for body frame, according to the Metropolitan Life Tables. There were no significant differences, as regards the content of DNA, RNA and protein, between the placental cotyledons. Nine placenta from mothers giving birth to growth retarded infants were analyzed along with the placenta from six mothers with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. A trend suggesting less DNA in the placenta of the severely growth retarded (symmetric) infants when compared with placenta from the normal pregnancies was not noted in the less severely growth retarded (asymmetric) infants. The placenta from the infants of diabetic pregnancies contained DNA and RNA in amounts similar to that found in normal pregnancy placenta but the protein content was greater.

KEY WORDS: • DNA • RNA • placenta • growth retardation • diabetes

¹ The investigations reported in this paper were made as part of the program project "Nutrition, Other Factors, and the Outcome of Pregnancy," supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, through a grant in 1985 to the Department of Human Nutrition and Food, School of Human Ecology, Howard University. Guest Editor for this supplement volume to The Journal of Nutrition was Cecile H. Edwards, Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Allied Health Sciences, Howard University, Washington, D. C. 20059. Tapes of the data are available at cost by sending a written request to the Guest Editor at the above address. Supported by Grant 3 PO1 HD17104-05, ENG, NICHD, NIH.

² To whom correspondence should be addressed: Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Henry Ford Hospital, 2799 West Grand Blvd., Detroit, Michigan 48202.