Cord blood levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 correlate with perinatal brain development in fetal congenital heart disease

What Was Tested

Researchers studied IGF-1 LR3 in this observational study publication.

Neonates with critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) are at risk for adverse early brain development and long-term neurodevelopmental sequelae.

Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) are essential contributors to brain growth and maturation.

The present study aimed to compare cord blood levels of IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 between neonates with CCHD and healthy controls, and to explore their association with perinatal brain development.

Who Took Part

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were adults, both men and women.

This was a prospective, observational study conducted at Wilhelmina Children's Hospital, Utrecht, The Netherlands, between June 2019 and March 2022.

IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 levels were measured from cord blood samples obtained directly after birth in term neonates with CCHD and healthy control neonates.

How the Study Was Run

The study cohort comprised term neonates diagnosed prenatally with a severe cardiac defect on ultrasound, for which surgical repair within the first month after birth was anticipated.

All cases were stratified into two subgroups according to the predicted cerebral oxygen delivery (COD) in utero (i.e. normal or lower), based on the expected impact of the cardiac diagnosis on COD.

In cases with CCHD, fetal and preoperative neonatal brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were performed.

Regional and total brain volumes were assessed, after adjustment for sex and postmenstrual age at MRI, using linear regression equations.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Insulin-Like Growth Factor I, Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 3, Fetal Blood, Brain, Heart Defects, Congenital, Case-Control Studies and Netherlands.

The authors tagged it with the keywords IGFBP‐3, IGF‐1, brain development, brain volume, congenital heart disease and fetus.

What This Means in Plain Language

This is an observational study of IGF-1 LR3.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 10 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2025 (Ultrasound in obstetrics & gynecology : the official journal of the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology), a journal based in England.

More context: the IGF-1 LR3 compound page, all human trials.