Open AccessSerum visfatin levels in late pregnancy and pre‐eclampsia
Author(s) -
HU WENSHENG,
WANG ZHENGPING,
WANG HANZHI,
HUANG HEFENG,
DONG MINYUE
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
acta obstetricia et gynecologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.401
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1600-0412
pISSN - 0001-6349
DOI - 10.1080/00016340801976012
Subject(s) - medicine , eclampsia , pregnancy , adipokine , pathogenesis , endocrinology , diabetes mellitus , insulin resistance , biology , genetics
Objectives . To characterise the changes in serum visfatin levels in late normal pregnancy and pre‐eclampsia. Methods . Twenty‐seven women with pre‐eclampsia were recruited. Twenty‐eight women in the third trimester of normal pregnancy served as pregnant control and 28 healthy non‐pregnant women as non‐pregnant control. Serum levels of visfatin were measured with an enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. Results . The means of serum visfatin were 626.4±45.5ng/ml (mean±SEM) in non‐pregnant control, 695.9±92.5ng/ml in pregnant control, and 308.3±80.0 ng/ml in pre‐eclampsia, respectively, and were significantly different among the groups ( p <0.001). Visfatin level was significantly lower in pre‐eclampsia compared to non‐pregnant control ( p = 0.004) and pregnant control ( p <0.001). Women with severe pre‐eclampsia had a significantly lower serum visfatin level than those with mild pre‐eclampsia (114.6±80.9 versus 425.2±122.1ng/ml, p = 0.037). Conclusions . A decrease in visfatin level was demonstrated in pre‐eclampsia, suggesting that visfatin and adipokine‐associated metabolic abnormalities are involved in the pathogenesis of the disease.