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Updated: Jun 30, 2026
Assessment of Maternal Vascular Remodeling During Pregnancy in the Mouse Uterus
Published on: December 5, 2015
Abnormal endothelium-dependent microvascular dilator reactivity in pregnancies complicated by normotensive
Corine M Koopmans1, Judith Blaauw, Maria G van Pampus
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Objective:
Normotensive intrauterine growth restriction and preeclampsia share a similar placenta pathophysiology, whereas maternal clinical manifestations differ. Clinical symptoms of preeclampsia are partly attributed to vascular endothelial dysfunction, but it is unclear whether this phenomenon plays a role in intrauterine growth restriction. Therefore, we investigated microvascular endothelial function in women with intrauterine growth restriction.
Study Design:
Laser Doppler fluxmetry was used combined with iontophoresis of acetylcholine and sodium nitroprusside, namely, endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent vasodilators. We studied 12 women with intrauterine growth restriction and 16 controls in the third trimester of pregnancy. All women had prepregnancy body mass indexes < 26.
Results:
Acetylcholine-mediated vasodilatation was significantly increased in women with intrauterine growth restriction compared with controls (743% +/- 120% vs 390% +/- 67%, P = .01); sodium nitroprusside-mediated vasodilatation was not different (360% +/- 55% vs 363% +/- 65%, P > .99).
Conclusion:
Nonobese women with normotensive intrauterine growth restriction show abnormal endothelium-dependent microvascular vasodilatation, suggesting endothelial dysfunction as in preeclampsia. Obviously, for the clinical manifestation of preeclampsia additional factors are required, and a role of metabolic syndrome and obesity has been suggested.
