title: Serum visfatin levels in late pregnancy and pre-eclampsia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To characterise the changes in serum visfatin levels in late normal pregnancy and pre-eclampsia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-seven women with pre-eclampsia were recruited. Twenty-eight women in the third trimester of normal pregnancy served as pregnant control and 28 healthy non-pregnant women as non-pregnant control. Serum levels of visfatin were measured with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The means of serum visfatin were 626.4+/-45.5 ng/ml (mean+/-SEM) in non-pregnant control, 695.9+/-92.5 ng/ml in pregnant control, and 308.3+/-80.0 ng/ml in pre-eclampsia, respectively, and were significantly different among the groups (p<0.001). Visfatin level was significantly lower in pre-eclampsia compared to non-pregnant control (p=0.004) and pregnant control (p<0.001). Women with severe pre-eclampsia had a significantly lower serum visfatin level than those with mild pre-eclampsia (114.6+/-80.9 versus 425.2+/-122.1 ng/ml, p=0.037).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A decrease in visfatin level was demonstrated in pre-eclampsia, suggesting that visfatin and adipokine-associated metabolic abnormalities are involved in the pathogenesis of the disease.
authors.affiliation: Women's Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Wensheng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Zhengping
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hanzhi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hefeng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Minyue
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D054409:Nicotinamide Phosphoribosyltransferase / Q000097:blood*; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D054409:Nicotinamide Phosphoribosyltransferase