title: Oxidative damage to pre-eclamptic placenta: immunohistochemical expression of VEGF, nitrotyrosine residues and von Willebrand factor.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the relationship of biomarkers of placental damage by oxidative stress in pre-eclamptic placenta.
  
  
  METHODS
  A case-control study was performed on a population of 14 pregnant women with PE and 12 women with normal pregnancies. Immunohistochemical expressions of VEGF, vWF distribution, (Na + K)-ATPase activity, and abundance of nitrotyrosine residues, were assessed in the placental tissue.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Women with pre-eclampsia showed increased VEGF expression and abundance of nitrotyrosine residues in placental villous, and plasma vWF levels (p < 0.05), whereas placental (Na + K)-ATPase activity were significantly reduced. The syncytiotrophoblast and the maternal space of pre-eclamptic placenta showed diminished and increased vWF expression, respectively, but no significant differences in its expression were found in the placental endothelium and stroma (p < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It could be suggested that increased oxidative stress and VEGF contribute to enhance the impairment of placental perfusion by increasing peroxynitrite formation, product of the NO and superoxide reaction, thereby partly contributing to account for the pathophysiology of this disease. The presence of vWF in the maternal space and its diminished expression in syncytiotrophoblast of pre-eclamptic placenta also might have pathogenic implications.
authors.affiliation: Anatomy and Developmental Biology Programme, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Cleofina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bosco
authors.forename: Jaime
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: González
authors.forename: Rodrigo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gutiérrez
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Parra-Cordero
authors.forename: Pilar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Barja
authors.forename: Ramón
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rodrigo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000502:physiology*; D030421:Peroxynitrous Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D010920:Placenta / Q000098:blood supply / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011247:Pregnancy; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014327:Trophoblasts / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D014443:Tyrosine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000378:metabolism*; D014841:von Willebrand Factor / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: C467484:VEGFA protein, human; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D014841:von Willebrand Factor; D030421:Peroxynitrous Acid; C002744:3-nitrotyrosine; D014443:Tyrosine