ABSTRACT
Hypertension disorder complicating pregnancy (HDCP) can be associated with multiple organ dysfunction or failure, even convulsions, coma and death in severe cases. HDCP poses a serious threat to maternal and fetal health, and is one of the important reasons for maternal and perinatal infant mortality. However, the etiology of HDCP remains largely unknown. Recently many studies have found HDCP is accompanied by changes of some hormones, including progesterone, humanchorionic gonadotropin, thyroid hormone and corticotropin-releasing hormone. In this review we delineated the fluctuations of the above four common hormones in HDCP patients and their relation with HDCP, hoping to cast new sights for its etiology and prediction.
ABSTRACT
To examine the changes in number and function of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs)from peripheral blood (PB) in hypertension disorder complicating pregnancy (HDCP), 20 women with HDCP and 20 normal pregnant women at the third trimester were studied. Mononuclear cells (MNCs) from PB were isolated by Ficoll density gradient centrifugation. EPCs were identified by positive expression of both CD34 and CD133 under fluorescence microscope and positive expression of factor Ⅷ as shown by immunocytochemistry. The number of EPCs was flow-cytometrically determined. Proliferation and migration of EPCs were measured by MTT assay and modified Boyden chamber assay, respectively. The adhesion activity of EPCs was detected by counting the number of the adherent cells. The results showed that, compared with normal pregnant women, the number of EPCs was significantly reduced in HDCP (4.29%±1.21% vs 15.32%±2.00%, P<0.01), the functional activity of EPCs in HDCE such as proliferation (13.45%±1.68% vs 18.45%±1.67%), migration (37.25 ± 7.28 cells/field vs 67.10±9.55 cells/field) and adhesion activity (20.65±5.19 cells/field vs 34.40±6.72 cells/filed) was impaired (P<0.01). It is concluded that the number and function of EPCs are significantly decreased in HDCP.