Researchers identify key contributor to the pre-eclampsia

A new study by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, shows a key component in the development of preeclampsia during pregnancy, a condition that results in May miscarriages and maternal mortality. The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, appears in the September issue of Endocrinology.

In this paper, the researchers identified differences in the uterus of pregnant women with and without pre-eclampsia, and as the tissues of the mother are different fetal tissues immediately adjacent were targeted women in pre-eclampsia .

"Preeclampsia is a very serious disease that affects 7 to 10 per cent of all pregnancies in the United States," said K. Bridget Brosnihan, Ph.D., principal investigator of the study and professor of hypertension and vascular Research Center, School of Medicine. "It can be devastating for mother and child, and there is currently no cure except delivery of the fetus. We believe that brings us one step closer to understanding the condition, an image what happens in the mother and fetus - interface. "

Pre-eclampsia is a disease that occurs only during pregnancy and after birth. It is a progressive disorder that impacts multiple body systems, thereby reducing blood pressure, liver function and in severe cases, the activity of brain seizures. Swelling, sudden weight gain, headaches and blurred vision are among the symptoms, but some women with rapidly advancing disease report few symptoms.

If left untreated, can lead to severe pre-eclampsia, even fatal complications for mother and baby. The State contributes to morbidity and neonatal mortality and is the second leading cause of maternal mortality. According to conservative estimates, pre-eclampsia and other hypertensive pregnancy for 76,000 maternal and infant mortality is responsible for 500,000 deaths per year, according to the Preeclampsia Foundation.

Despite numerous studies, the precise causes remain a mystery of preeclampsia. One possible way, which has accepted the renin-angiotensin system (RAS), which regulates blood pressure and fluid retention.

The BS in the functioning of the rule is a hormone angiotensin II, a potent vasoconstrictor angiotensin II binds to receptors in the body, including in the womb "bed" of the fetus and placenta, and causes the muscular walls of blood vessels contract, reducing the diameter of the vessels and increases blood pressure.

In normal pregnancy, the uterus has led to a decrease in RAS activity, producing less angiotensin II extends the results in blood vessels at the moment. This leads to lower blood pressure and more oxygen and nutrients can pass from mother's womb to the placenta and fetus, which is beneficial for their development.

In pre-eclamptic women, however, is the increased activity of RAS in the uterus, but the mother vessels will expand and strengthen the fetus "more ships than usual. Brosnihan and his colleagues have developed the emphasis on the discovery of reason in the current study.

What they found was surprising, Brosnihan said. Scientific studies have shown that angiotensin II is detectable in the uterus of pregnant or pre-eclampsia. In normal pregnancy, this does not pose a problem because there is less angiotensin II is produced, so that the receptors are less important. In pre-eclamptic women, however, where the uterine angiotensin II is high, the hormone does not bind to its receptors in the uterus as it should, but goes into the vessels of the placenta and fetus fetus narrows "vessels, limiting the fetus oxygen and nutrient supply and often cause underweight at birth.

The only known way to cure pre-eclampsia childbirth. Women diagnosed with pre-eclampsia in early pregnancy should be an option for delivery, the child more time to mature can be without them or their children at risk of serious complications.

"The placenta is thought that a central cause of preeclampsia," said Brosnihan. "We have been interested in the interface between the uterus of the mother and fetal placenta. The placenta itself is a key factor for ever free from the disease. Will be delivered after the fetus and placenta, pre - eclampsia goes, so that the disease seems to originate.

Inhibitors of BS is known to have ill effects on the fetus, so that the control system is difficult in pre-eclampsia women "Brosnihan. Taking into account its role in regulating blood pressure, many people with medications high blood pressure, work the remote access function. These drugs are cons-indicated in pregnant women.

"It is very difficult parts of this system of pre-eclampsia, without violating control prevent the child," said Brosnihan. "Our study provides an overview of factors that human milk may worsen the disease. I hope one day we can cure closer to finding one. "