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Increased plasma levels of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide in pre-eclampsia
Objective:
To investigate the plasma vasoactive peptide (VIP) levels in pregnancies complicated by pre-eclampsia.
Design:
A prospective clinical study.
Setting:
University Department of Obstetrics, Tromsø, Norway.
Subjects:
18 women with untreated gestational proteinuric hypertension between 32 and 40 weeks gestation (13 primigravid) and 8 women with normal pregnancies of similar gestational age.
Interventions:
Fasting blood samples on two occasions, 10 min apart.
Main Outcome Measures:
Plasma VIP measured by radioimmunoassay.
Results:
Mean maternal plasma VIP was 13.9 (SEM 1.7) pmol/l in those with pre-eclampsia and 4.4 (SEM 0.5) pmol/l in normal pregnancies (P less than 0.0001).
Conclusion:
The increased levels of VIP in pre-eclampsia may represent a powerful compensatory mechanism to restore vascular perfusion of various organs, including the uterus and placenta.