Search Results

You are looking at 1 - 1 of 1 items for

  • Author: FM Reis x
  • Refine by access: Content accessible to me x
Clear All Modify Search
D D'Antona
Search for other papers by D D'Antona in
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
,
FM Reis
Search for other papers by FM Reis in
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
,
C Benedetto
Search for other papers by C Benedetto in
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
,
LW Evans
Search for other papers by LW Evans in
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
,
NP Groome
Search for other papers by NP Groome in
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
,
DM de Kretser
Search for other papers by DM de Kretser in
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
,
EM Wallace
Search for other papers by EM Wallace in
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
, and
F Petraglia
Search for other papers by F Petraglia in
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close

Activin A levels are elevated in maternal serum of pregnant women with hypertensive disturbances. Because follistatin is a circulating binding protein for activin A, the present study was designed to evaluate whether serum follistatin and activin A levels also change in patients with hypertensive disorders in the last gestational trimester. The study design was a controlled survey performed in the setting of an academic prenatal care unit. Healthy pregnant women (controls, n=38) were compared with patients suffering from pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH, n=18) or pre-eclampsia (n=16). In addition, the study included a subset of patients with pre-eclampsia associated with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR, n=5). Maternal blood samples were withdrawn at the time of diagnosis (patients) or in a random prenatal visit (controls), and serum was assayed for follistatin and activin A levels using specific enzyme immunoassays. Hormone concentrations were corrected for gestational age by conversion to multiples of median (MoM) of the healthy controls of the same gestational age. Follistatin levels were not different between controls and patients, while activin A levels were significantly increased in patients with PIH (1.8 MoM), pre-eclampsia (4.6 MoM), and pre-eclampsia+IUGR (3.2 MoM, P<0.01, ANOVA). The ratio between activin A and follistatin was significantly increased in patients with PIH (1.5 MoM) and was further increased in patients with pre-eclampsia (4.5 MoM) and in the group with pre-eclampsia+IUGR (2.6 MoM). Follistatin levels were positively correlated with gestational age in control subjects (r=0. 36, P<0.05) and in patients with PIH (r=0.46, P<0.05) or pre-eclampsia (r=0.61, P<0.01), while activin A correlated with gestational age only in the healthy control group (r=0.69, P<0.0001). The finding of apparently normal follistatin and high activin A levels in patients with PIH and pre-eclampsia suggests that unbound, biologically active, activin A is increased in women with these gestational diseases.

Free access