[Plasma endothelin levels in pregnancy induced hypertension]

Plasma endothelin level (ET) was measured by radioimmunoassay in 10 healthy non-pregnant women, 10 normal pregnancies, 41 cases with pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH), and in cord plasma of 19 normotensive and 14 PIH women as well. There was no significant difference of ET levels between non-pregnant and normal pregnant women (P > 0.05). On the contrary, ET value in PIH was significantly higher than that in normal gravida (P < 0.01) and it was positively correlated with the severity of PIH. The mean value of ET in mild, moderate and severe PIH were 2.58 x 10(-8) mol/L, 4.08 x 10(-8) mol/L and 4.53 x 10(-8) mol/L, respectively. ET of umbilical vein (UV) in normal pregnancy was 4 times higher than that from the mother, while it was 2 times higher in PIH situation. The findings in this study suggested that ET may be contributed to the vasospasm associated with PIH and might be one of the factors that caused the pathogenesis of PIH. The high concentration of ET in UV may play a role in fetal hemodynamic changes.