Edm. Gallery et al., EFFECT OF SERUM ON SECRETION OF PROSTACYCLIN AND ENDOTHELIN-1 BY DECIDUAL ENDOTHELIAL-CELLS FROM NORMAL AND PREECLAMPTIC PREGNANCIES, American journal of obstetrics and gynecology, 173(3), 1995, pp. 918-923
OBJECTIVE: Increasing circumstantial evidence suggests that the matern
al endothelial cell is centrally involved in the syndrome of preeclamp
sia, and a number of reports have described the presence of a factor(s
) that alters endothelial cell function in serum from women with preec
lampsia. We have previously described differences between endothelial
cells from the decidual vascular bed and those from the umbilical vein
. The purposes of this study were (1) to examine the effect of serum f
rom normal and preeclamptic women on secretion of vasoactive substance
s by maternal decidual endothelial cells, (2) to compare these results
with those from umbilical vein endothelial cells, widely used as a su
rrogate for endothelial cells in general, (3) to compare responses to
these sera by decidual endothelial cells from normal and preeclamptic
pregnancies, and (4) to determine whether these responses are amplifie
d by preincubation in test sera. STUDY DESIGN: Endothelial cells were
isolated from umbilical veins and from decidual biopsy specimens colle
cted at caesarean section delivery, from both normal and preeclamptic
women. Cells were maintained in culture until passage 2, when secretio
n by the three endothelial cell populations of the vasodilator prostac
yclin (measured as its stable metabolite, B-keto-prostaglandin F-1 alp
ha), and the vasoconstrictor endothelin-1 was compared in the presence
of serum from preeclamptic or gestational age-matched normal pregnant
women. RESULTS: Prostacyclin secretion by all endothelial cell popula
tions was higher in the presence of serum from preeclamptic women than
in medium containing serum from gestational age-matched normal pregna
nt women. Values for endothelin were not singificantly different in ce
lls incubated in serum from normal or precclamptic women. Preincubatio
n of decidual cells from preeclamptic women in test serum, particularl
y in preeclamptic serum, resulted in more marked stimulation of prosta
cyclin secretion. CONCLUSIONS: Preeclamptic serum contains a factor(s)
that stimulates prostanoid secretion from endothelial cells. This eff
ect was observed in both umbilical vein and decidual cells. Cells from
preeclamptic women were more susceptible to perturbation of their sec
retion by this factor. Serum from preeclamptic women did not specifica
lly affect endothelin-1 secretion.