title: Placental and maternal serum inhibin A in patients with preeclampsia and small-for-gestational-age.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to determine the levels of inhibin A simultaneously in the maternal serum and placental extract in preeclampsia (PE) with or without small-for-gestational-age (SGA) and normal controls at term, and to evaluate the relationship among changes in serum and placental inhibin A according to the severity of PE and PE with or without SGA.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study involved 40 pregnant women; normal (n = 20), and PE (n = 20), the latter of who were classified into (i) mild (n = 10) and severe PE (n = 10); (ii) PE with SGA (n = 7) and without SGA (n = 13). Inhibin A concentrations were quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in the maternal serum and placental extract. Inhibin-α subunit in the placenta was stained by immunohistochemistry (IHC), and its intensity was graded by a semiquantitative scoring method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a positive correlation in inhibin A concentrations between the serum and placental extract (r = 0.57, P < 0.001). Both maternal serum and placental inhibin A in PE groups were significantly higher than in controls, but there was no severity-dependent increase of inhibin A when compared with mild and severe PE. There was no difference in inhibin A levels between PE with and without SGA. Moreover, the inhibin-α subunit was predominantly abundant in the cytoplasm of the syncytiotrophoblasts, where the PE groups showed higher staining intensity than the controls (P < 0.000).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serum inhibin A level might be a useful biomarker for diagnosis and monitoring of PE.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
authors.forename: Zongji
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Li-Yi
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Iwan-Satyagraha
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Suprapto
authors.forename: Pooja
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Shenoy
authors.forename: Xiping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007236:Infant, Small for Gestational Age / Q000378:metabolism*; D007265:Inhibins / Q000378:metabolism*; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000378:metabolism*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: C422362:inhibin A; D007265:Inhibins