Plasma from pre-eclamptic women and functional change in myometrial resistance arteries

This study assesses the ability of plasma from women with pre-eclampsia to induce altered endothelial function in myometrial resistance vessels from normotensive women. Vessels from normotensive pregnant women (n= 7) were incubated with plasma from other pregnant women who were normotensive (n= 6)or had pre-eclampsia (n= 7). A wire myograph was used to test the endothelium-dependent relaxatory response to bradykinin of preconstricted vessels. The relaxation in vessels incubated with plasma from women with pre-eclampsia was markedly less than in vessels incubated with plasma from normotensive pregnant women (  P = 0.039  ). This supports the theory that a plasma-borne factor contributes to the endothelial changes seen in pre-eclampsia.