Premium
Umbilical cord plasma homocysteine concentrations at delivery in pregnancies complicated by pre‐eclampsia
Author(s) -
NAPOLITANO Peter G.,
WAKEFIELD Charles L.,
ELLIOTT Dawn E.,
DOHERTY Dorota A.,
MAGANN Everett F.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of obstetrics and gynaecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.734
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1479-828X
pISSN - 0004-8666
DOI - 10.1111/j.1479-828x.2008.00864.x
Subject(s) - interquartile range , eclampsia , medicine , homocysteine , umbilical cord , pregnancy , plasma homocysteine , cord blood , obstetrics , biology , immunology , genetics
Aim: To determine whether homocysteine concentrations in umbilical cord plasma of neonates born to mothers with pre‐eclampsia are elevated compared to concentrations in neonates born to normotensive women. Method: Maternal blood from eight women with pre‐eclampsia and ten women without pre‐eclampsia was collected on admission for labour. Cord blood was collected from these same pregnancies at delivery. Plasma was extracted and stored at −70°C. Samples were batch‐analysed for homocysteine. Result: Maternal plasma homocysteine levels were observed to be significantly higher in the pregnancies complicated by pre‐eclampsia compared to the control pregnancies ( P = 0.043) with median levels of 5.4 µmol/L (interquartile range (IQR) 4.6–7.9; range 3.6–16.7) versus 4.1 µmol/L (IQR 3.4–5.1, range 3.1–6.7). Homocysteine concentrations in umbilical cord plasma in pregnancies complicated by pre‐eclampsia were also significantly higher compared to those in normotensive pregnancies ( P = 0.016) with median concentration levels of 5.3 µmol/L (IQR 4.8–7.2, range 2.5–16.6) versus 3.8 µmol/L (IQR 2.8–4.4, range 0.8–1.6). Conclusion: Both maternal and umbilical cord plasma homocysteine concentrations were elevated in pregnancies complicated by pre‐eclampsia compared to normotensive controls.