Platelets and the beginning of preeclampsia

Article Abstract:

Preeclampsia is a complication of pregnancy marked by high blood pressure, swelling, and protein in the urine. Substances involved in the clotting mechanism play a role in the development of preeclampsia. The condition may involve other symptoms as well. For example, high blood pressure (hypertension) is a secondary response in preeclampsia, but there have been cases reported without hypertension. The primary cause of the disease lies in the trophoblastic tissue, fetal tissue involved in establishing the placenta and forming some fetal membranes. Thus, preeclampsia is not a disease of maternal heart or kidney, but of the embryonic tissues produced as a result of pregnancy. Hypertension, although secondary, is usually the earliest symptom of preeclampsia, and is produced by an early change in the arteries. Investigators have found that the spiral arteries of the uterus show unusual and pathologic characteristics, but sampling these tissues interferes with the ongoing pregnancy. A new study in the August 16, 1990 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine reports that measurement of intracellular calcium levels of maternal platelets, the elements of the blood associated with blood clotting, is a sensitive means of identifying preeclampsia as early as the first trimester (first three months of pregnancy). In preeclampsia, the smooth muscle cells that cause hypertension may have the same physiologic mechanism that triggers the changes in platelets. Data is accumulating that indicates platelets contribute to the preeclampsia pathologic process. The results of this research indicates that the condition may be treatable by drugs, such as low-dose aspirin, which prevent the effects of agents affecting platelets. Preeclampsia is becoming clarified more as a trophoblast-dependent process involving platelet pathology; the condition is treatable, in part, by antiplatelet agents. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Causes of, Physiological aspects, Development and progression, Blood platelets, Aspirin, editorial

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Magnesium for preeclampsia and eclampsia

Article Abstract:

Magnesium should be viewed as a rational drug for preventing and treating preeclampsia and eclampsia. Eclampsia are seizures that occur during or around the time of childbirth and are associated with hypertension. Although magnesium has long been used to prevent eclampsia, such therapy was criticized for being irrational because it was not thoroughly tested. One 1995 study demonstrated that magnesium sulfate was effective in treating more hypertensive pregnant women. Another 1995 study demonstrated that magnesium was effective in preventing repeating seizures in women who had already developed eclampsia. Other studies have shown that magnesium may benefit babies as well. Magnesium may prevent seizures by dilating blood vessels in the brain, facilitating enzyme activity, or protecting blood vessels from damage. Administering magnesium to all pregnant women with high blood pressure would lead to overuse of the drug. Thus, further studies are required to identify who is at greatest risk of eclampsia.

Health aspects, Editorial, Eclampsia, Magnesium, Magnesium (Metal)

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Prenatal diagnosis of fetal RhD status by molecular analysis of maternal plasma

Article Abstract:

Analyzing a pregnant woman's blood for fetal DNA appears to be an effective way of detecting fetal RhD status. Various complications can arise if the mother is RhD-negative but the fetus is RhD-positive. Researchers used the polymerase chain reaction to detect and classify fetal DNA in blood samples from 57 RhD-negative pregnant women whose partners had one RhD gene. In women in their second or third trimester, PCR analysis of fetal DNA agreed with analyses of fetal cord blood. Thirty-nine fetuses were RhD-positive and 18 were RhD-negative.

Analysis, Innovations, Testing, Fetal blood, Rh factor, Prenatal diagnosis

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