Effect of cytomegalovirus infection on the content of myristic acid and sphingomyelin in the blood of the umbilical cord of newborns

Aim. To assess the effect of cytomegalovirus infection (CMVI) on the content of myristic acid and sphingomyelin in the membrane of blood red blood cells of the umbilical cord of newborns.

Materials and methods. There were examined 25 newborns from mothers with exacerbation of chronic CMVI in the third trimester of gestation (the main group); the control group consisted of 20 newborns from healthy mothers. Clinical diagnosis (exacerbation of chronic CMVI) was established in a comprehensive study of peripheral blood for the presence of cytomegalovirus DNA, IgM or four times or more increase in the titer of IgG antibodies in paired sera in dynamics after 10 days, as well as the avidity index (more than 65%). Verification of cytomegalovirus, determination of type-specific antibodies, and avidity index were carried out by ELISA methods; detection of cytomegalovirus DNA was done by PCR methods. The material for the study was the umbilical cord blood erythrocyte membrane. Lipids from umbilical cord blood were extracted by Folch method. The content of myristic acid in the erythrocyte membrane of the umbilical cord in newborns was determined by gas-liquid chromatography; the concentration of sphingomyelin was found by thin-layer chromatography. Microviscosity of erythrocyte membranes was measured by lateral diffusion of pyrene hydrophobic fluorescent probe.

Results. It is established that the exacerbation of chronic CMVI in women in the third trimester of pregnancy (the antibody titer of IgG to cytomegalovirus 1:1600) was associated with the increased content of the myristic acid in the erythrocyte membrane in the umbilical cord blood of their newborns compared to the control group by 32% (from 1.64±0.007 vs. 1.24±0.008%, respectively, p<0.001) and sphingomyelin by 25% (24.20±0.12 vs. 19.40±0.09%, respectively, p<0.001), which leads to an increase of microviscosity of erythrocyte membranes - the reduction of eximerization pyrene coefficient to 0.48±0.004 rel. units (in the control group it was 0.76±0.005 rel. units, p<0.001).

Conclusion. The increase in the content of myristic acid and sphingomyelin in the erythrocyte membrane of the umbilical cord during growth in the mother of the titer of antibodies of immunoglobulin class G to cytomegalovirus 1:1600 increases the microviscosity of the lipid bilayer of the erythrocyte membrane and may be one of the factors contributing to the formation of hypoxia of the newborn child.

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