[Study on apoptosis of placental syncytiotrophoblast in patients with severe preeclampsia].

OBJECTIVE: to investigate apoptosis of placental syncytiotrophoblast in patients with early-onset and late-onset severe preeclampsia. METHODS: from November 2008 to May 2009, 15 cases with early-onset severe preeclampsia and 15 cases with late-onset severe preeclampsia matched with 10 women with normal pregnancies as control at Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Shanghai Jiaotong University were enrolled in this study. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure syncytiotrophoblast microparticles (STBM) levels in peripheral venous plasma. Caspase-3 were measured by western blotting. RESULTS: (1) STBM: the level of STBM of (71 ± 21) microg/L in early-onset group were significantly higher than (42 ± 30) microg/L in late-onset group and (26 ± 11) microg/L in control group (P < 0.05). The level of STBM in late-onset group and control group did not reach statistical difference (P > 0.05). (2) Caspase-3: the level of caspase-3 protein were 0.85 ± 0.61 in early-onset group and 0.77 ± 0.46 in late-onset group, which were all significantly higher than 0.32 ± 0.15 in control group (P < 0.05). However, the level of caspase-3 protein in early-onset group did not show remarkable difference compared with that in late-onset group (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: STBM are shed into the maternal circulation in higher amounts in early-onset preeclampsia, which indicated that early-onset and late-onset severe preeclampsia may have different etiology and pathogenesis.