Quantitative Characteristics of the Limited Proteolysis in Endotheliocytes of Placental Blood Vessels in Pregnant Women with Afterbirth Inflammation Accompanied by Iron-Deficiency Anemia

Our previous works reveal the results of quantitative studies on the determination of the degree of oxidative modification of proteins, the peculiarities of limited proteolysis in case of afterbirth inflammation accompanied by iron-deficiency anemia in pregnant women are not yet elucidated and this issue is perspective for complete understanding of histochemical properties of proteins in the placental structures. The purpose of the study is to determine quantitative characteristics of limited proteolysis in endothelial cells of the placenta blood vessels when afterbirth inflammation is accompanied by iron-deficiency anemia in pregnant women by means of histochemical technique. Materials and methods. We studied 198 placentas to compare the placentas during physiological pregnancy and the observation of iron-deficiency anemia in pregnant women without afterbirth inflammation. After formalin fixation of the material and paraffin coating, histochemical techniques were performed on serial histological sections of 5 μm thick applying a ninhydrin-Schiff reaction to free amino groups of proteins using A. Yasuma and T. Ichikava method. Digital copies of the image were received, followed by further analysis in the medium of ImageJ computer program. Arithmetic meaning and its error were calculated. We also checked the differences in the average trends using the odd Student's criterion. Results and Discussion. Average indices of histochemical staining on free amino groups of proteins in pregnant women with iron-deficiency anemia are statistically close to placental indices of physiological pregnancy. In endothelial cells of blood vessels, according to average values of optical density of staining, the most intensively limited proteolysis increases in case of the acute and chronic form of chorioamnionitis, in comparison with the indices of physiological pregnancy and iron-deficiency anemia in pregnant women without inflammation. Somewhat lower, but with high probability, indices of limited proteolysis increase with acute and chronic basal deciduitis. It should be noted that afterbirth inflammation accompanied by anemia was characterized by higher meaning values than without it. Conclusions. Iron-deficiency anemia in pregnant women accompanies no changes in the optical density of histochemical staining on the free amino groups of proteins in the endothelial cells of the chorial and basal lamina of the placenta in comparison with physiological pregnancy. In the acute and chronic form of chorioamnionitis and basal deciduitis average quantitative indicators of limited proteolysis increase compared to physiological pregnancy and non-inflammatory iron-deficiency anemia in pregnant women. The same trend is observed when inflammation is accompanied by iron-deficiency anemia in pregnant women.