American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
ResearchBasic science: ObstetricsEndothelial microparticles and the antiangiogenic state in preeclampsia and the postpartum period
Section snippets
Study subjects
A prospective, case-control study was conducted on 20 preeclamptic women and 20 healthy pregnant women recruited from Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas, TX, and its affiliated prenatal care clinics from February 2009 through June 2010. Eligibility for enrollment included women with singleton gestations ≥36 weeks. For study subjects, the diagnosis of preeclampsia was defined as blood pressure measurement ≥140/90 mm Hg on 2 occasions within 6 hours in a previously normotensive woman and ≥2+
Results
The demographic and clinical characteristics of the study subjects are presented in the Table. There were no significant differences in maternal age, race, parity, gestational age at enrollment, or smoking. Women with preeclampsia had a significantly higher prepregnancy body mass index than control subjects (P < .015). Women with preeclampsia had a higher mean arterial blood pressure than control subjects. The mode of delivery was similar between the 2 groups. The birthweight was significantly
Comment
The findings of this study support that the antiangiogenic environment of preeclampsia is related to the degree of endothelial damage occurring at the cellular level. Levine et al5, 6 has demonstrated an increase of the antiangiogenic proteins, sFlt1 and sEnd, in women destined to develop preeclampsia and hypothesized the interaction of these proteins with PlGF and VEGF leads to an antiangiogenic environment best reflected by the sFlt1:PlGF ratio. This ratio has been shown to correlate with the
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Cited by (0)
Supported by National Institutes of Health/National Center for Research Resources Grant 5 UL1 RR024982-03, Milton Packer, MD (principal investigator).
The authors report no conflict of interest.
Reprints not available from the authors.
Cite this article as: Petrozella L, Mahendroo M, Timmons B, et al. Endothelial microparticles and the antiangiogenic state in preeclampsia and the postpartum period. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2012;207:140.e20-6.