[Relationship between placenta growth factor and the pathogenesis of pregnancy induced hypertension syndrome]

To determine whether pregnancy induced hypertension syndrome (PIHs) is associated with placenta growth factor (PLGF).

PLGF level in the maternal and umbilical venous serum collected from 23 PIHs patients and 20 normotensive controls was measured by enzyme linked immunoassay (ELISA), and expression of PLGF and its mRNA in the placenta and decidua from them was assessed by the immuno-histochemistry and reverse transcriptional-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

(1) PLGF levels in the maternal serum from PIHs [(112.7 +/- 63.8) micrograms/L] were significantly lower than those from normal pregnancies [(200.3 +/- 140.9) micrograms/L], (P < 0.05), and they were correlated with infant birth weight and placental mass (r = 0.4, r = 0.6). (2) Expression of PLGF in sycytiotrophoblast and villous mesenchyme and decidua from PIHs significantly decreased respectively (P < 0.01, P < 0.01, P < 0.05), and expression of PLGF in sycytiotrophoblast was associated with the severity of PIHs (P < 0.05). (3) The transcription of total PLGF mRNA in the placenta and decidua from PIHs decreased significantly (P < 0.05 and P < 0.05 respectively). Particularly, the transcription of PLGF-2 mRNA decreased significantly in the placenta from PIHs.

The abnormal expression of PLGF may play an important role in the pathogenesis of placental ischaemia hypoxia in PIHs.