[Changes of plasma fibronectin and antithrombin III in pregnancy-induced hypertension]

Plasma fibronectin (Fn) levels and activities of antithrombin III (AT-III) function were determined in 219 cases, including 61 cases of pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) and 127 normal pregnant women and 31 normal nonpregnant women as controls. The plasma Fn levels of PIH patients were significantly increases to 539.04 +/- 256.3 mg/L, while the plasma AT-III activities were significantly lowered to 76.1 + 13.9%. There was a negative correlation between plasma Fn and AT-III in PIH patients (r = -0.377, P less than 0.01). High plasma Fn and low plasma AT-III in PIH were related to proteinuria. Plasma AT-III decreased as PIH became more severe. The results suggested that the high plasma Fn with low AT-III levels may serve as an indicator of the severity of PIH.