Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have discovered a key component responsible for development of pre-eclampsia in pregnant women.

K. Bridget Brosnihan, Ph.D., the lead investigator for the study and a professor in the Hypertension and Vascular Research Center at the School of Medicine, says that Pre-eclampsia is most serious condition in pregnant women that affects 7 to 10 percent of all pregnancy cases in U.S.

Despite various research studies, the exact cause of pre-eclampsia is unidentified. One possible pathway that has been discovered is renin-angiotensin system (RAS), which regulated fluid retention and blood pressure in body and the hormone that form during RAS operation process is angiotensin II.

The research found that high levels of uterine angiotensin II passes through  the vessels of the fetal placenta and constricts the fetus’ vessels, limiting the fetus’ oxygen and nutrient intake, leading to possible health complications.

The new recommendations for induced labor apply in particular to patients with mild pre-eclampsia risk that can possibly lead to hypertension and sudden weight gain in expectant mothers.

The study was conducted at Netherlands including 756 pregnant women and all had been pregnant 36 to 41 weeks and also had mild pre-eclampsia. Few of them under went induced labor, while others were monitored during the final phase of pregnancy.

The two groups were compared on a number of measures that the researchers labeled as poor maternal outcome, including death, eclampsia, pulmonary edema, progression to severe high blood pressure, major post-birth bleeding (loss of a liter or more of blood), and what’s known as HELLP syndrome (hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes and low platelet, or red blood cell, count).

Source: HealthDay

Developed at Diagnostic Technologies PP13 is to undergo more thorough testing in Austria although it is already available, at a price, to women in Israel.

The condition of pre eclampsia can result in premature deliveries and is signaled by high blood pressure, it can affect the brain, blood system, liver and kidneys.

The disease has been around for centuries, but has continued to baffle scientists. Pre eclampsia leads to almost twenty percent of deaths during pregnancy and affects up to seven percent of all pregnancies.

A leading expert in this field, Prof. Berthold Huppertz states that if a person’s mother suffered with pre eclampsia they are at greater risk from heart disease in the future.

The German born cell biologist theorizes that the placenta is damaged by a lack of oxygen. This is caused by the invasion of the uterus by cells unable to make open tubes from arteries.

Huppertz continues that a change of sexual partner with resulting in a pregnancy increases the risk whilst an immune system acclimatized to a particular sperm has a reduced chance of getting the condition. He is keen to work with the team in Austria to test the new discovery.

It is the University of Graz’s Institute of Cell Biology, History and Embryology that will take over where the Israeli scientists left off. Preeclampsia is also generic and is most common in the black population yet least known in Asian ethnicity.