RESUMO
Previously in normotensive non–proteinuric pregnant women, preeclampsia which is characterized by hypertension and proteinuria has been the main reason for foetal and maternal mortality and morbidity. Previous studies have shown that preeclampsia occurs mostly when the placenta is present and remits after its delivery and since angiogenic factors are involved in placentation, it is of immense importance to study the levels of circulating angiogenic factors during preeclampsia.METHODSBlood samples of 20 preeclamptic and 20 normotensive, non-proteinuric pregnant women were collected and stored at -20 º C. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure the serum level of VEGF. Various concentrations of the standard VEGF (15.6 – 1000 pg/ml) and sFlt-1 (31.2 – 20000 pg/ml) were used.RESULTSIn the preeclamptic pregnant women the levels of free VEGF were found to be significantly lower than the VEGF level of control women. The levels of VEGF in the maternal serum of preeclamptic patients were 38.06 ± 7.18 pg/ml (mean ± SD).CONCLUSIONSThe present study concludes that in preeclamptic patients, low levels of VEGF shows a potential connection between the circulating angiogenic factors and development of the clinical manifestations of preeclampsia.