Role of Omega-3 essential fatty acids in pregnancy induced hypertension

ABSTRACT

Pre-eclampsia is a major health problem contributig largely to maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality which is of obscure etiology. It is characterized by vasoconstriction and platelet aggregation which is attributed to imbalance of thromboxane A2 and prostacyclin A2. This imbalance could be corrected by polyunsaturated fatty acids of n-3 class by competing with arachidonic acid for cyclooxygenase enzyme producing inactive prostanoid. To study the relation of omega-3 fatty acids and the severity of pre-eclampsia. 10 mild pre-eclamptic, 10 severe pre-eclamptic and 10 eclamptic patients were compared to a control group of 20 normal pregnant patients for their plasma levels of omega-3 fatty acids using high performance liquid chromatography. pre-eclamptic patients were significantly lower in their plasma levels of fatty acids than in control group