Fig. 7
From: Chorionicity-associated variation in metabolic phenotype of cord blood in twin
Changes in the metabolic phenotypes of twin cord blood between differential chorionicities. Uncomplicated monochorionic twin pregnancy shows three types of anastomoses: the veno-venous (VV) anastomosis is bi-directional occurred between the red veins (red star), large arterio-arterial (AA) anastomosis is bi-directional occurred between the blue arteries (blue star), and arterio-venous (AV) anastomosis is unidirectional from blue arteries to red veins (purple star). The umbilical cord plasma discrepancies within twin pairs and between twin pairs were exhibited. Within twin pairs: a higher 2-HG level was observed in the MC smaller twin compared to the larger one; a higher nicotinamide level was observed in the DC larger twin compared to the smaller one. Between MC and DC twins: the GSH metabolism, tryptophan metabolism, and linolenic acid metabolism were downregulated in the MC twins. List of abbreviations: DC = Dichorionic; MC = Monochorionic; L = Larger twin; S = Smaller twin; 2-HG, 2 − hydroxyglutaramic acid; α-KG, α-Ketoglutaric acid; HGDH, 2-Hydroxyglutarate dehydrogenase; GSH, glutathione