title: Comparative proteomics analysis suggests that placental mitochondria are involved in the development of pre-eclampsia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pre-eclampsia (PE), a severe pregnancy-specific disease characterized by the new onset of hypertension, proteinuria, edema, and a series of other systematic disorders, is a state of widespread mitochondrial dysfunction of the placenta.
  
  
  METHODS
  We compared the morphology of mitochondria in pre-eclamptic and normotensive placentae using electron microscopy. To reveal the systematic protein expression changes of placental mitochondria that might explain the pathogenesis of PE, we performed iTRAQ analysis combined with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) on differentially expressed placental mitochondria proteins from 4 normotensive and 4 pre-eclamptic pregnancies. Bioinformatics analysis was used to find the relative processes that these differentially expressed proteins were involved in. Three differentially expressed proteins were chosen to confirm by Western blotting and immunohistochemistry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Morphological data demonstrated degenerative and apoptotic changes in the mitochondria of pre-eclamptic placentae. We found four proteins were upregulated and 22 proteins were downregulated in pre-eclamptic placentae compared with normotensive placentae. Bioinformatics analysis showed that these proteins were involved in many critical processes in the development of pre-eclampsia such as apoptosis, fatty acid oxidation, the respiratory chain, reactive oxygen species generation, the tricarboxylic acid cycle and oxidative stress.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This preliminary work provides a better understanding of the proteomic alterations of mitochondria from pre-eclamptic placentae and may aid in our understanding of the importance of mitochondria in the development of pre-eclampsia.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Zhonghua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Long
authors.forename: Chun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Xirong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Hongjuan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ding
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D010920:Placenta / Q000378:metabolism*; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000378:metabolism*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011257:Pregnancy Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins; D011257:Pregnancy Proteins