ReviewAdvances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.)2019
Perspective: L-arginine and L-citrulline Supplementation in Pregnancy: A Potential Strategy to Improve Birth Outcomes in Low-Resource Settings.
Review in Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.), 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 68 citations in OpenAlex.
- L-Arginine and L-Citrulline for Prevention and Treatment of Pre-Eclampsia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology · 2025Pooled it
- Prenatal Amino Acid Supplementation to Improve Fetal Growth: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2020Pooled it
- Land use is associated with Indigenous maternal death occurrence through Native and Western food security.iScience · 2026Article
- Maternal Rumen-Protected Leucine Supplementation Enhances Placental Nutrient Transport Capacity and Increases Birth Weight in Hu Sheep.Veterinary sciences · 2026Article
- L-Citrulline in Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Health: Metabolic Mechanisms and Emerging Therapeutic Applications.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Serum metabolomics in early pregnancy differentiates between gestational hypertension and preeclampsia.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Liposomal encapsulation of L-arginine and L-citrulline enhances pharmacokinetics and therapeutic effects in a model of preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Arginine Metabolism in Decidual Macrophages During Pregnancy.American journal of reproductive immunology (New York, N.Y. : 1989) · 2025Review
- The SLC-ome of membrane transport: From molecular discovery to physiology and clinical applications.Physiological reviews · 2025Review
- Dietary Supplementation with L-Citrulline Between Days 1 and 60 of Gestation Enhances Embryonic Survival in Lactating Beef Cows.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- LC-MS/MS assay to confirm that the endogenous metabolite L-Arginine promotes trophoblast invasion in the placenta accreta spectrum through upregulation of the GPRC6A/PI3K/AKT pathway.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Maternal-offspring brain and tissue cross-talk in preeclampsia: insights from a rat model.Metabolic brain disease · 2025Article
- Dietary supplements and prevention of preeclampsia.Hypertension research : official journal of the Japanese Society of Hypertension · 2025Review
- Increased proline intake during gestation alleviates obesity-related impaired fetal development and placental function in gilts.Animal nutrition (Zhongguo xu mu shou yi xue hui) · 2025Article
- Current Approaches and Innovations in Managing Preeclampsia: Highlighting Maternal Health Disparities.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- MaternalBritish journal of biomedical science · 2025Article
- Secondary prevention of preeclampsia.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2025Review
- Pregnancy Metabolic Adaptation and Changes in Placental Metabolism in Preeclampsia.Geburtshilfe und Frauenheilkunde · 2024Article
- Review
- Arginase 1 and L-arginine coordinate fetal lung development and the initiation of labor in mice.EMBO reports · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The available data support the hypothesis that L-arginine or L-citrulline supplementation would be suitable for implementation in resource-constrained settings and will enhance placental vascular development and improve birth outcomes. In resource-constrained settings, the rates of adverse birth outcomes, including fetal growth restriction, preterm birth, and low birth weight, are disproportionately high. Complications resulting from preterm birth are now the leading cause of mortality in children <5 y of age worldwide. Despite the global health burden of adverse birth outcomes, few effective interventions are currently available and new strategies are urgently needed, especially for low-resource settings. L-arginine is a nutritionally essential amino acid in pregnancy and an immediate precursor of nitric oxide. During pregnancy, placental and embryonic growth increases the demand for L-arginine, which can exceed endogenous synthesis of L-arginine from L-citrulline, necessitating increased dietary intake. In many low-resource settings, dietary intake of L-arginine in pregnancy is inadequate owing to widespread protein malnutrition and depletion of endogenous L-arginine due to maternal infections, in particular malaria. Here we examine the role of the L-arginine-nitric oxide biosynthetic pathway in pregnancy including placental vascular development and fetal growth. We review the evidence for the relations between altered L-arginine bioavailability and pregnancy outcomes, and strategies for arginine supplementation in pregnancy. Existing studies of L-arginine supplementation in pregnancy in high-resource settings have shown improved maternal and fetal hemodynamics, prevention of pre-eclampsia, and improved birth outcomes including higher birth weight and longer gestation. Arginine supplementation studies now need to be extended to pregnant women in low-resource settings, especially those at risk of malaria.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.