Proteomic Profiling of the Blood Serum for Prediction of Premature Delivery.

Mass-spectrometric profiling of the serum in women at weeks 16-17 of gestation was carried out in order to detect proteomic predictors of preterm delivery. Changes in the production of 25 proteins (down-regulation for 13 proteins and up-regulation for 12 proteins) were detected in the sera of women whose pregnancies eventuated in premature deliveries. Among them, proteins with various regulatory functions were distinguished: antioxidant enzymes, chaperons, cytoskeleton proteins, cell adhesion molecules, and proteins involved in angiogenesis, proteolysis, transcription, inflammation processes, binding and transportation of various ligands. These results indicated the formation of proteomic imbalance as early as during trimester II, this eventually leading to premature delivery. The detected serum proteins were suggested as markers for early prediction of premature delivery.

[The imbalance of metal-containing proteins and free metal ions in the amniotic fluid during fetal growth].

The levels of zinc, copper, iron, and magnesium ions, and some of their binding proteins have been investigated in an amniotic fluid under the fetal growth retardation (FGR). FGR, developed under conditions of placental insufficiency, is characterized by a decrease in the content of zinc, iron, and magnesium ions and by an increase in the copper content in the amniotic fluid in the II and III trimesters of pregnancy. During these trimesters the levels of ceruloplasmin, ferritin, and Ca2+,Mg2+-ATPase were lower in FGR, while the level of zinc-a-2-glycoprotein was higher than during the same periods of normal pregnancy. Changes in the parameters studied in the amniotic fluid were associated with developmental disorders of the newborns. These changes obviously have a pathogenetic importance in the development of FGR, and the levels of metal ions and their ratio in the amniotic fluid can be used as markers of the pre- and postnatal pathology.

[Imbalance of system of glutamin - glutamic acid in the placenta and amniotic fluid at placental insufficiency].

Metabolism of glutamine and glutamic acid has been investigated in the placenta and amniotic fluid under conditions of placental insufficiency. The development of placental insufficiency is characterized by the increased content of glutamic acid and a decrease of glutamine in both placenta and amniotic fluid. These changes changes were accompanied by changes in the activity of enzymes involved in the metabolism of these amino acids. There was a decrease in glutamate dehydrogenase activity and an increase in glutaminase activity with the simultaneous decrease of glutamine synthetase activity. The compensatory decrease in the activity of glutamine keto acid aminotransferase did not prevent a decrease in the glutamine level. The impairments in the system glutamic acid-glutamine were more pronounced during the development of premature labor.

[Amino acid composition of amniotic fluid during physiological and complicated pregnancy].

An ion exchange chromatographic technique was used to study the content of 18 free amino acids in the amniotic fluid of women with physiological and complicated pregnancy. The amino acid spectrum of amniotic fluid in placental insufficiency was found to be characterized by the lower content of arginine, serine, glycine, alanine, cysteine, tyrosine, phenylalanine, and glutamine, which are involved in many metabolic processes required to maintain biochemical homeostasis during gestation. There was an opposite tendency for dicarboxylic amino acids and histidine, the levels of which increased, by enhancing nitrogen imbalance. The degree of the found impairments of a number of amino acids considerably increased in case of birth of babies with brain lesions, which permits use of their amniotic fluid determination to predict the neonatal status.

[Proteins-markers of placental insufficiency].

The proteomic analysis of the amniotic fluids of women with physiological pregnancy and pregnancy, complicated with placental insufficiency has been carried out on the II and III trimesters. The following difference in protein patterns have been recognized: i) appearance of several proteins lacking in physiological pregnancy; ii) absence of several proteins detectable during physiological pregnancy--hippocalcin-like protein 1, CDC37-like protein, NKG2D ligand 2 (II trimester), CDC37-like protein, NKG2D ligand 2 (III trimester). The established differences in the amniotic fluid spectrum, obviously, have the pathogenetic meaning in the placental insufficiency development. The revealed proteins of distinction may serve as markers of this obstetrical pathology.

[Extracellular DNA in the blood of pregnant women]. / Vnekletochnaia DNK v krovi beremennykh zhenshchin.

The level of extracellular DNA increases in the blood of women during pregnancy. By means of PCR, the full-size Alu repeats were observed among extracellular blood DNA repeats of pregnant women. Furthermore, with Tc65 type primer the PCR method allowed to observe in the blood DNA fragments flanked by inverted Alu repeats (inter Alu repeats). The presence of such a type of inter Alu repeats was estimated in the blood of women being in the first trimester of pregnancy only, but was not estimated among blood DNA fragments of women of the last trimester of pregnancy. It is discussed which types of cells may serve as a source of extracellular blood DNA (either trophoblast cells, lymphocytes, or decidual cells), the significance of such DNA for pregnancy being appreciated.

[The functional activity of the lymphoid cell population in the decidua in the late period of pregnancy]. / Funktsional'naia aktivnost' populiatsii limfoidnykh kletok otpadaiushchei obolochki v pozdnie sroki beremennosti.

Cytotoxic and suppressor activity of decidual cells lymphoid population were analysed in 14 women with normal pregnancy and labour, in 8 women with light pre-eclampsia and 11 women with early and premature rupture of amniotic sac. In late stages of pregnancy decidua is characterised by high suppressor activity of the lymphoid cell population. In early and premature rupture of amniotic sac suppressor activity of decidual cell lymphoid population was significantly decreased.

[The morphofunctional characteristics of the deciduous membrane in pregnancy edema]. / Morfofunktsional'nye osobennosti otpadaiushchei obolochki pri otekakh beremennykh.

An analysis of DNA content in decidua cells and decidua cell number in compact decidual layer was performed in 19 women with physiological pregnancy and labour, in 31 women with oedema of pregnancy, in 29 women with light and in 11 women with severe pre-eclampsia. Significant difference in DNA content in the group with oedema of pregnancy and in the groups with other gestosis forms was demonstrated. Thus, a conclusion is made that oedema may have an independent genesis.

[DNA synthesis and content in human decidual cells at different stages of differentiation based on flow cytometry data]. / Sintez i soderzhanie DNK v kletkakh detsidua cheloveka, nakhodiashchikhsia na raznykh étapakh differentsirovni, po dannym protochnoi tsitometrii.

Flow cytometry analysis of the DNA content of human decidual cells at the physiologically normal pregnancy and in the case of toxicosis was carried out. During the normal pregnancy DNA-histogram parameters were seen to vary: the number of S-phase cells decreased, the coefficient of variation of the G1/0 peak increased. These alterations correlated positively with the increase in the share of decidual cells with properties of terminally differentiated cells. The most pronounced quantitative alterations in variability of DNA content in G1/0 cells were observed in cases of toxicosis of pregnancy. Phenomena of variability of the nuclear DNA in the terminally differentiated decidual cells is considered to be a sign of cell death through apoptosis.