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Updated: May 29, 2025

Author Spotlight: Modeling an Aspect of Preeclampsia in Female Mice Using Hypoxic Human Placenta-Derived Small Extracellular Vesicles
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Author Spotlight: Modeling an Aspect of Preeclampsia in Female Mice Using Hypoxic Human Placenta-Derived Small Extracellular Vesicles

Published on: January 26, 2024

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Plasma from hypertensive pregnancy patients induce endothelial dysfunction even under atheroprotective shear stress

Sarah Viana-Mattioli1,2, Miriam Helena Fonseca-Alaniz2, Iguaracy Pinheiro-de-Sousa2,3

  • 1Department of Biophysics and Pharmacology, Institute of Biosciences of Botucatu, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Distrito Rubião Júnior, Botucatu, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.

Scientific Reports
|February 7, 2025
PubMed

Insights

Preeclampsia and gestational hypertension impact endothelial cells differently under varying blood flow conditions. Preeclampsia plasma induced pro-inflammatory and antioxidant responses, while gestational hypertension plasma promoted cell proliferation under laminar shear stress.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiovascular Biology
  • Reproductive Medicine
  • Molecular Genetics

Background:

  • Preeclampsia (PE) is a significant maternal health concern linked to endothelial dysfunction (ED).
  • Previous research has not fully explored the role of blood flow patterns, specifically laminar (LSS) and oscillatory (OSS) shear stress, in PE-related ED.
  • Placental factors released under oxygen deprivation are implicated in triggering ED.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of plasma from healthy pregnant women (HP), gestational hypertension (GH), and PE patients on human coronary artery endothelial cells (HCAECs).
  • To analyze the gene expression profiles of HCAECs under both LSS and OSS conditions when exposed to different plasma types.
  • To elucidate how shear stress influences endothelial cell responses to hypertensive pregnancy states.

Main Methods:

  • Incubation of HCAECs with plasma from HP, GH, and PE subjects.
  • Exposure of treated HCAECs to controlled laminar shear stress (LSS) and oscillatory shear stress (OSS) conditions.
  • Global gene expression analysis (transcriptome profiling) to identify differential gene expression patterns.

Main Results:

  • Laminar shear stress (LSS) induced a unique transcriptional profile in endothelial cells exposed to plasma.
  • Oscillatory shear stress (OSS) resulted in similar transcriptomes regardless of the plasma source.
  • Under LSS, GH plasma led to a proliferative endothelial cell profile, while PE plasma induced pro-inflammatory and antioxidant profiles compared to HP plasma.

Conclusions:

  • Shear stress patterns significantly modulate endothelial cell gene expression in response to plasma from pregnancies complicated by hypertension.
  • Both PE and GH can contribute to endothelial dysfunction, even under atheroprotective LSS conditions.
  • PE-derived plasma demonstrated a more pronounced effect on endothelial cell transcriptome compared to GH plasma under LSS.

Keywords:
Endothelial dysfunctionHypertensionPreeclampsiaPregnancyShear stress

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