CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNAL OF AFRICA • Vol 23, No 3, April 2012
AFRICA
155
The highest mRNA expression level of sFlt-1 was found in
the late-onset pre-eclamptic group (1.789
±
0.513 fold) and the
lowest level was found in the chronic hypertensive group (1.009
±
0.162 fold) (Fig. 3). The level of sFlt-1 mRNA expression in
the normotensive group (1.62
±
0.24 fold) was slightly higher
than that of the the early-onset pre-eclamptic group (1.401
±
0.237 fold). There were no significant differences in the sFlt-1
concentrations among the four groups.
The highest level of VEGF mRNA expression was found
in the normotensive group (2.261
±
0.42 fold) (Fig. 4). The
VEGF mRNA expression level in the normotensive group was
significantly higher than in the late-onset pre-eclamptic (1.059
±
0.4338 fold) and chronic hypertensive (0.682
±
0.113 fold)
groups (2.14 and 3.24 fold, respectively) (
p
< 0.05). The VEGF
mRNA expression level in the normotensive group compared
with the early-onset pre-eclamptic group (0.943
±
0.28) had a
p-
value very close to being significant (
p
=
0.051).
As shown in Fig. 5, the ratio of sFlt-1 to VEGF was 2.6-fold
higher in the early-onset pre-eclamptic group than in the
normotensive group (
p
= 0.055). The ratio in the late-onset
pre-eclamptic group and chronic hypertensive group were 2.17-
and 2.34-fold greater, respectively than the normotensive group.
Although the differences in mRNA expression levels of
PlGF among the four groups were not statistically significant,
the late-onset pre-eclamptic group had the lowest level (0.81
±
0.34) while the chronic hypertensive group had the highest
level (2.17
±
0.94) and the latter was 1.80-fold higher than in the
normotensive group (1.205
±
0.4818) (Fig. 6). The early-onset
pre-eclamptic group (1.704
±
0.5854) had a relatively higher
level of PlGF expression level than the late-onset pre-eclamptic
group but the level was lower than in the chronic hypertensive
group.
Among all four groups, the late-onset pre-eclamptic group
(23.20
±
13.36 fold) had the highest level of AT1 mRNA
expression (Fig. 7). Furthermore, the normotensive group (7.86
±
3.34 fold) showed higher AT1 receptor mRNA expression
levels than in the early-onset pre-eclamptic (2.13
±
0.73 fold)
and chronic hypertensive (2.63
±
0.73 fold) groups. Notably,
the difference in AT1 receptor mRNA expression level between
the early-onset and late-onset pre-eclamptic groups showed a
p
-value very close to significance (
p
=
0.0592 fold). In addition,
a positive correlation was found between the AT1 receptor
concentration and diastolic blood pressure in the late-onset
pre-eclamptic group (
p
<
0.05).
Discussion
In this study healthy, normotensive, pregnant women served as
an appropriate control by representing the physiological changes
that occur during uncomplicated pregnancy, which was a point of
reference for the pathological conditions of chronic hypertensive
pregnancy and PE. Chronic hypertensive pregnancy was a
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
sFIt-1 conc (pg/ml)
N
CH EO LO
⁕
p
< 0.05
Fig. 1. Serum concentrations (conc) of sFlt-1 in
normotensive (N) (
n
= 27), chronic hypertensive (CH)
(
n
= 9), early-onset pre-eclamptic (EO) (
n
= 8) and late-
onset pre-eclamptic (LO) (
n
= 8) groups. *Significant
difference (
p
< 0.05) between the early-onset pre-eclamptic
and normotensive groups.
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
PIGF conc (pg/ml)
N
CH EO LO
Fig.2.Serumplacentalgrowthfactor(PlGF)concentrations
in normotensive (N) (
n
= 30), chronic hypertensive
(CH) (
n
= 9), early-onset (EO) (
n
= 10), and late-onset
pre-eclamptic (LO) (
n
= 9) groups. *Significant difference
between normotensive and chronic hypertensive groups.
**Highly significant difference between normotensive
and early-onset pre-eclamptic groups (
p
= 0.001).
3
2
1
0
VEGF/GAPDH
N
CH EO LO
Fig. 4. Placental mRNA expression levels of VEGF in
normotensive (N) (
n
= 30), chronic hypertensive (CH)
(
n
= 9), early-onset (EO) (
n
= 8) and late-onset (LO)
(
n
= 9) pre-eclamptic groups. *Significant difference
(
p
< 0.05) between the chronic hypertensive and
normotensive group, and between the late-onset
pre-eclamptic and normotensive group.
⁕
p
< 0.05
⁕
p
< 0.05
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
sFIt-1/GAPDH
N
CH EO LO
Fig. 3. Placental mRNA expression levels of sFlt-1 in
normotensive (N) (
n
= 30), chronic hypertensive (CH)
(
n
= 9), early-onset (EO) (
n
= 8) and late-onset (LO) (
n
= 9)
pre-eclamptic groups.
