Study on the skin status of mid-pregnancy women based on lipidomics

Background Pregnancy is a complex physiological state and its unique changes in skin state have been discussed. Skin surface lipid (SSL) is an important molecular basis for this skin condition, and it affects skin condition in a number of ways, but there are no complete research data on it. Objectives To analyze the lipidome profiles of SSL in pregnancies and controls in order to understand SSL changes in pregnancy. It will provide theoretical data of SSL on skin care and prevention of skin diseases during pregnancy. Methods Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MS) and multivariate statistics were used to investigate the changes of SSL in pregnancy. Results Results showed that there were significant differences (P < .05) in the lipidome between pregnancies and controls. Multivariate data analysis indicated that there were 20 important individual lipid species identified, and triglycerides (TGs) were the majority of differentiating lipid species. Conclusions The increase of estrogen level in pregnancies antagonizes and inhibits the regulation of androgen on sebaceous gland, resulting in the decrease of sebum secretion and the weakening of skin barrier function. Besides, the decrease of saturated fatty acid content may be the main factor of the decrease of skin barrier function during pregnancy. Additionally, skin cells perform their self-regulation function to reduce or counteract abnormal state of the skin during pregnancy through the synthesis and secretion of more glycerophospholipids and ceramides.