# Investigation of the relationship between uterine artery Doppler diastolic notching and serum apelin-13 and apelin-36 concentrations between the 11th and 14th weeks of pregnancy: a case-control study

## TL;DR

This study examined if uterine artery Doppler diastolic notching is linked to apelin-13 and apelin-36 levels in early pregnancy but found no significant relationship.

## Contribution

The study is the first to investigate apelin-13 and apelin-36 in relation to uterine artery Doppler notching during early pregnancy.

## Key findings

- No significant difference in apelin-13 levels between groups with and without diastolic notching.
- No significant difference in apelin-36 levels between groups with and without diastolic notching.
- Apelin concentrations were also similar in groups with high or normal pulsatility index.

## Abstract

the apelin family plays a role in the proliferation and migration of trophoblasts. Based on this, we aimed to investigate the relationship between diastolic notching in uterine artery Doppler and serum apelin-13 and apelin-36 concentrations between 11 and 14 weeks of gestation.

forty-four (44) pregnant women with diastolic notching in uterine artery Doppler and 44 without diastolic notching were compared in terms of serum apelin-13 and apelin-36 concentrations.

the two groups were similar in terms of demographic characteristics (p > 0.05). The median apelin-13 concentration was found to be 45.4 pg/mL in the uterine artery notch-positive group, while it was 41.02 pg/mL in the uterine artery notch-negative group (p = 0.770). The median apelin-36 concentration was 546.06 pg/mL in the uterine artery notch-positive group, while it was 536.6 pg/mL in the uterine artery notch-negative group (p = 0.570). Participants were regrouped as high or normal pulsatility index (PI) according to uterine artery PI, and both groups were compared in terms of apelin-13 and apelin-36 concentrations. Median serum apelin-13 and apelin-36 concentrations were also similar in the high and normal uterine artery PI groups (p = 0.445, p = 0.402, respectively).

although the number of participants was too small to draw a definitive conclusion, no significant relationship between diastolic notching or increased resistance in the uterine artery and serum apelin-13 and apelin-36 concentrations could be detected.