EVALUATION OF INTRAPLATELET AND URINARY 5-HYDROXYTRYPTAMINE (5-HT), AND URINARY 5-HYDROXYINDOLEACETIC ACID (5-HIAA) LEVELS IN PATIENTS WITHTOXEMIA OF PREGNANCY

Toxemia of pregnancy is considered to represent a disorder of activate d blood coagulation. To identify possible indicators for evaluating th e clinical course of toxemia, we measured the intraplatelet and urinar y levels of 5-HT and its urinary metabolite, 5-HIAA in 25 patients wit h toxemia vs. 29 non-toxemic pregnant women. 5-HT and 5-HIAA were assa yed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). During the 24-34 weeks of gestation, the toxemic patients and the non-toxemic women ea ch had low intraplatelet levels of 5-HT which didn't differ significan tly. A significant (p<0.05) decrease in intraplatelet 5-HT was observe d in the toxemic patients vs. the non-toxemic women after the 35th wee k of gestation until delivery. The untake of exogenous 5-HT by platele ts was increased in the toxemic patients, and their urinary (5-HT+5-HI AA) value increased significantly (p<0.05) as compared with the non-to xemic women after the 35th week of gestation until delivery. A decreas e in the intraplatelet level of 5-HT and an increase in the urinary le vel of (5-HT+5-HIAA) were observed in the toxemic patients, findings t hat paralleled the progression of this disorder. Serial measurements o f intraplatelet and urinary levels of 5-HT and urinary levels of 5-HIA A in the toxemic patients revealed a significant correlation between d isease activity and those levels.