The effect of delivery mode on maternal and fetal antimicrobial peptides

OBJECTIVE: Antimicrobial peptides are proteins produced by inflammatory cells and epithelial cells that have the ability to regulate the immune response in the innate immune system. In our study, we aimed to prove the placental transmission of LL-37, Elafin, HNE and Vitamin D levels, which have been shown to be expressed in the female reproductive system and fetal membranes, and to prove a higher level of antimicrobial peptide levels associated with the proinflammatory process triggered during normal labor compared to cesarean section. In addition, we aimed to compare the transmission levels of antimicrobial peptides through breast milk by breast-feeding by measuring the antimicrobial peptide level in infant saliva after birth and one day after birth. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In Celal Bayar University Hafsa Sultan Hospital Gynecology and Obstetrics Service, over 18 years of age, no additional disease, 37 weeks of gestation and above, no medication other than antianemic and multivitamin, 20 vaginal deliveries without perinatal congenital diagnosis, 20 cesarean deliveries 1cc sample was taken from the umbilical cord blood during hospitalization and postpartum from the pregnant woman who had had pregnancy, and after separating the serum by centrifugation, all the materials were stored at -80 degrees until they were collected. 1 cc was separated from the saliva of newborn babies at birth and 24 hours after birth from the samples taken at routine controls and stored at -80 degrees. Then, vitamin D, Elafin, LL-37, HNE levels were measured in the collected blood and saliva using the Elisa device sandwich method. CONCLUSION: We couldn't detect any difference between the presence of antimicrobial peptides in maternal blood and umbilical cord blood depending on the mode of delivery. Again, we couldn't detect a variable in postpartum saliva samples in the antimicrobial peptide levels, depending on both the mode of delivery and breastfeeding. RESULTS: Although our findings don't support that the normal birth process is an inflammatory process that activates the maternal and fetal immune system, we think that broader case control studies are needed.