Determination of Cytokines and NO Produced by Monocytes in Patients with Pregnancy Induced Hypertension

Objective: To study the variations of cytokines and NO produced by monocytes in peripheral blood in patients with pregnancy induced hypertension. Methods: The levels of IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α in the supernatant of the cultures of monocytes from 34 patients with pregnancy induced hypertension were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assays. Griess method was used to measure the concentration of NO. 30 normal pregnant women were used as control. Results: The concentrations of IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α from patients with pregnancy induced hypertension were significantly higher than those of the control (P＜0.01 ). There was significant difference between the cytokines in mild, moderate and severe groups (P0.01). The NO levels from patients with pregnancy induced hypertension were significantly lower than those of the control (P0.01). The differences of the NO levels in mild,moderate and severe groups were also significant (P＜0.01). There was a negative correlation between the level of TNF-α and the ratio of NO-2/NO-3 in pregnancy induced hypertension group (r = 0.772, P＜0. 01 ). Conclusion: In patients with pregnancy induced hypertension, the IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α were overproduced and the NO level decreased,which may be involved in the pathogenesis of pregnancy induced hypertension.