Gestational hypoxia induces preeclampsia-like symptoms via heightened endothelin-1 signaling in pregnant rats.

ABSTRACT: Preeclampsia is a life-threatening pregnancy disorder. However, its pathogenesis remains unclear. We tested the hypothesis that gestational hypoxia induces preeclampsia-like symptoms via heightened endothelin-1 (ET-1) signaling. Time-dated pregnant and nonpregnant rats were divided into normoxic and hypoxic (10.5% O2 from the gestational day 6-21) groups. Chronic hypoxia had no significant effect on blood pressure or proteinuria in nonpregnant rats but significantly increased blood pressure on day 12 (systolic blood pressure, 111.7 ± 6.1 versus 138.5 ± 3.5 mm Hg; P=0.004) and day 20 (systolic blood pressure, 103.4 ± 4.6 versus 125.1 ± 6.1 mm Hg; P=0.02) in pregnant rats and urine protein (μg/μL)/creatinine (nmol/μL) ratio on day 20 (0.10 ± 0.01 versus 0.20 ± 0.04; P=0.04), as compared with

SUBMITTER: Zhou J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3826959 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature