Complement 4 in pregnant hypertension with and without proteinuria

ABSTRACT

The objective of our study was to investigate the role of complement 4 [C[4]] in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia. The study was conducted on 30 women, 10 of whom were pregnant with proteinuric hypertension, 10 were pregnant with non-proteinuric hypetension and 10 normal pregnant women as a control group. Total plasma protein, serum albumin and serum complement 4 were estimated before delivery for all groups and 5 days after delivery for the proteinuric and non-proteinuric hypertension groups. The results revealed that in women with proteinuric hypertension antenatal C[4], total protein and albumin concentration were significantly less than those of their matched controls. On the other hand, the concentration of C[4], total protein and albumin in women with non-proteinuric hypertension were slightly lower but not significantly different from those of the control group. Five days after delivery there was significant increase in C[4] but not in total protein or albumin concentration in both hypertensive groups. So the decreased serum concentration of C[4] may participate in the pathogenesis of hypertension of pregnancy