The Morphometric Study of Red Blood Cells in Pregnant Women with Preeclampsia

The problem of preeclampsia is still relevant in obstetrics because of the high frequency of complications, severe and atypical forms, resistance to traditional methods of treatment and significant maternal and perinatal deaths. Despite advancements in revealing the mechanisms of preeclampsia, some of its units remain poorly understood and limit the pathogenic therapy. The objective of the research was to study the morphological properties of red blood cells in pregnant women with preeclampsia. Materials and Methods. We examined 23 pregnant women: 11 women with moderate preeclampsia and 12 women with severe preeclampsia at 28-39 weeks of gestation. The control group included 11 women with normal pregnancy. The average age of women was 22.9 ± 0.8 years. The morphometric study of red blood cells was performed using image analyzer, which consisted of a microscope Lyumam P-8, optical adapter, camera Kocom (digital CCD colour camera KCC-310 ND / PD) and PC. Software UTHSCSA Image Tool® for Windows® (version 2.00) was used for measuring the metric characteristics of red blood cells. Digital material was processed using Microsoft Excel 2000 and Statistica 5.11. Results. In moderate preeclampsia red blood cells of small and medium diameter with signs of severe defects dominated. In severe preeclampsia the number of red blood cells of large diameter increased. Anisocytosis was detected, red blood cells with uncharacteristic ratio of the surface area and shape factor of a profile dominated. Conclusions. It was noted that the development of preeclampsia caused the progression of changes in morphometric characteristics of erythrocytes toward increase in their degenerative forms with limited functional capacity which are directly related to the severity of the pathological process. ?