Preeclampsia

Preeclampsia is one of the most significant health
problems of human pregnancy. It is a leading cause
of fetal growth restriction, premature birth, and low
birth weight babies. Preeclampsia is ahypertensive
disorder of pregnancy characterized by increased
vasoconstriction leading to maternal hypertension
and reduced blood flow to organs and tissues, including
the kidneys, uterus, andplacenta. Increased
platelet aggregation, disseminated intravascular coagulation,
endothelial cell dysfunction, proteinuria,
and edema are other abnormalities associated with
preeclampsia. Severepreeclampsia can lead to
eclampsia, which is characterized by maternal convulsions
thought to be caused by cerebral vasoconstriction.
Despite considerable research on preeclampsia,
the onlytreatment at present is removal
of the fetus and placenta. The cause of preeclampsia
is still not known.
Isoprostanes are recently discovered prostaglandinlike
products formed in vivo by freeradical-catalyzed
nonenzymatic peroxidation of arachidonic acid (1).
Isoprostanes are considered to be accurate markers of
oxidative stress and endogenous lipid peroxidation
(2–5). They are formed insitu, esterified in phospholipids,
and then released in free form, presumably by
phospholipases (6). Isoprostanes are carried in the
circulation bound to lipoproteins.
The isoprostanes have beenproposed as markers
of oxidative damage, but they also exert biological
actions. Isoprostanes are potent vasoconstrictors in
the kidney, lung, heart, brain and placenta (1, 7–10).
Isoprostanes alsostimulate IP3 and mitogenesis in
vascular smooth muscle cells and induce the release
of endothelin from endothelial cells (11, 12). Some
investigators report increased maternal circulating
1Correspondence: Virginia Commonwealth University, Department
of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Sanger Hall, Rm.
11–039, 1101 E. Marshall St., Richmond, VA 23298-0034,
USA. E-mail: swwalsh@hsc.vcu.edu...