The Effect Of Adiponectin On The Pathogenesis Of Preeclampsia

Objective Preeclampsia is a disorder specific to pregnancy and is a major cause of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity. However, etiology and pathogenesis of preeclampsia continue to be elusive. The large number of evidences suggest that preeclampsia would be associated with many factors, such as endothelial dysfunction, inflammatory reaction, insulin resistance and etc. Adiponectin, a novel adipose tissue-specific protein, has pround effects that including protecting endothelial cells, increasing insulin sensitivity, anti-inflammatory and anti-atherogenetic actions, thus it becomes one of the important candidates being studied focusing on preeclampsia. We therefore, with the bases of our prestudy, investigate whether human placenta expresses adiponectin protein and its mRNA and study their relationship with preeclampsia..Methods The expression of adiponectin and the intensity of its mRNA in plancenta were detected by using immunohistochemitry and RT-PCR methods,respectively. Placental tissues were collected from normal pregnancies (n= 20 ), mild preeclampsia (n=6) and severe preeclampsia (n=22). Integral optical density(IOD)was utilized to represent the strength of the expression ofadiponectin protein and the ratio of adiponectin cDNA PCR products toβ-actin cDNA PCR products represented the intensity of transcription of adiponectin mRNA in plancenta. The IOD and the ratio were ananysized by analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-test and etc.Results1. There were adiponectin protein in all samples. It was presented in placental cytotrophoblast and syncytiotrophoblast cells.2. There was no significant difference of the expression of adiponectin protein in placenta between maternal side and fetal side in severe preeclampsia andin normal pregnancy, respectively (P>0.05) . The expression of adiponectin protein in placenta in severe preeclampsia was significantly lower than that of in normal pregnancy and in mild preeclampsia, respectively (P<0.05) .There was also no significant difference of the expression of adiponectin protein in placenta between term delivery and preterm delivery in severepreeclampsia (P>0.05), but the expression of adiponectin protein in placenta in term delivery of severe preeclampsia was significantly lower than that of term delivery of normal pregnancy (P<0.05) .3. There was adiponectin-mRNA in placenta in all samples too. The intensity of transcription of adiponectin in placenta in severe preeclampsia was markedly lower than that of in normal pregnancy and in mild preeclampsia,respectively (P<0.05) .ConclusionThe study suggested that the decrease of adiponectin protein expression was associated with the decrease of the intensity of transcription adiponectin -mRNA in placenta in severe preeclampsia. Taken together, the abnormal expression of adiponectin is involved in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia,.