Morphological changes in the umbilical arteries of babies born to pre-eclamptic mothers: an ultrastructural study.
The umbilical arteries of babies from ten normal pregnancies and from ten babies born to pre-eclamptic mothers were studied. Ultrastructurally, there were marked abnormalities of umbilical arterial morphology in the pre-eclamptic group. A loss of intercellular junctions, distension of the endoplasmic reticulum and an increase in cell organelles in the endothelial cells leading to a partial de-endothelialization was noted. Smooth muscle cells showed the morphological features of metabolic activation. These ultrastructural findings can be attributed to fetal hypoxia and to disturbances in cellular lipid metabolism; they suggest that there may be an abnormal fetal arterial blood flow in maternal pre-eclampsia.
D000328:Adult; D004727:Endothelium / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009940:Organoids / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D014469:Umbilical Arteries / Q000648:ultrastructure*