Transplantation of endothelial progenitor cells for improving placental perfusion in preeclamptic rats

Effective treatments for preeclampsia are currently unavailable. As endothelial progenitor cell-transplantation may improve ischemia, it is an important undertaking to study the role of endothelial progenitor cells for improving the symptom of preeclampsia.

Physiological and pathological changes in foetal rats and pregnant rats were monitored. Endothelial progenitor cells were isolated from the peripheral blood of normal rats and labelled by DiI. Endothelial progenitor cells were transplanted into the placenta of preeclampsia-like rats. Fluorescence microscopy was used to observe the differentiation of transplanted endothelial progenitor cells. Western blotting was used to observe the expression of nestin, an index of brain hypoxia in foetal rats.

The rats suffered from abdominal aortic constriction and NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester injection (group F). The proteinuria and blood pressure of pregnant rats in group F increased on the 13th day of pregnancy. The proteinuria and blood pressure of group F was higher than in other groups of rats. The weight of foetal rats and foetal heads significantly decreased in group F compared with other groups. Typical pathological changes of preeclampsia were observed in the placental tissue of group F. In preeclampsia-like rats, transplantation of endothelial progenitor cells led to an increase in placenta angiogenesis. The expression of nestin weakened in endothelial progenitor cell-transplanted rats compared with the non-transplantation group. After EPCs transplantation, physiological parameters in the preeclampsia-like rats were significantly decreased.

Endothelial progenitor cells transplantation could improve preeclampsia-like symptom in rats and endothelial progenitor cell-transplantation relieves intrauterine hypoxia in brain tissues of foetal rats to a certain extent.