Article
Nitric oxide in different types of hypertension during pregnancy
Autor
Garmendia, Jenny V.
GUTIERREZ, Ylse
Blanca, Isaac
Bianco Colmenares, Nicolás E.
De Sanctis, Juan B.
Institución
Resumen
1. Serum nitric oxide (NO) levels (determined by
its products of oxidation) were assessed in nonpregnant
women, normal pregnant women and
patients suffering from mild pre-eclampsia (MPE),
severe pre-eclampsia (SPE), chronic hypertension
(CHT) and CHT with pre-eclampsia (CHT+PE).
The levels of NO products were significantly
reduced during pregnancy in MPE (P < 0.001),
CHT+PE (P < 0.01) and SPE (P < 0.05). Significant
reductions of NO products were also observed in
puerperium (P < 0.001) in all groups except
CHT+PE (Pc0.05).
2. In normal pregnancy, three events were related to
NO levels: (1) negative correlations were found
between the levels of nitrite (r = -0.73, P = 0.0003),
nitrate (r = -0.53, P = 0.017) and the number of
weeks of gestation; (2) in the caesarean section
group, the levels of NO at puerperium were significantly
lower (P < 0.05) than those during pregnancy;
and (3) there was a significant reduction in NO
levels in the pregnant women carrying male fetuses
as compared with female fetuses (Px0.05).
3. In SPE, the patients with a family history of
hypertension had lower levels of NO compared with
the patients without such a history (P<0.05).
4. A negative correlation was observed between systolic
blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and
NO levels in MPE (r = -0.62, P = 0.013 and
r = -0.68, P = 0.0049 respectively) and SPE
(r = -0.72, P = 0.004 and r = -0.53, P = 0.037
respectively).
5. In SPE, positive correlations were observed
between platelet count and nitrite (r = 0.67, P=
0.006) and nitrate levels (r = 0.56, P = 0.028).
6. In MPE, patients with anti-hypertensive treatment
showed significantly (P < 0.05) higher levels of
NO compared with the non-treated patients.
7. NO may be important in the physiopathology of
hypertension during pregnancy, although several
factors may affect its levels.