Thrombocytopenia complicating preeclampsia: data to support a new model.
Thrombocytopenia can be associated with preeclampsia without evidence of consumptive coagulopathy and may contribute to placental insufficiency. In the case reported here, the patient's platelets agglutinated in vitro in the presence of her serum when the serum had been preincubated with her placental cells. The reaction was calcium and, probably, complement dependent. Mixtures of sera and placentas from normal APO-matched control pregnancies caused no agglutination of the patient's platelets. The capacity of her serum and placental cells to agglutinate her own platelets was not found in the sera obtained 60 days post partum. These findings suggest that in some cases of preeclampsia the platelets may be involved in an immune-mediated phenomenon that can induce platelet agglutination and is probably accentuated in the placenta, thus attenuating placental blood flow.
D000328:Adult; D000372:Agglutination Tests; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology; D011247:Pregnancy; D013921:Thrombocytopenia / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology