Study of oxidative stress in women with preeclampsia

Introduction: Root cause of preeclampsia is placental ischemia due to impaired trophoblastic invasion in uterine spiral arterioles. Ischemic placenta liberates various inflammatory mediators. Inflammation is associated with development of free radicals leading to vascular endothelial damage. Therefore estimation of oxidative stress can give insight to pathogenesis of disease. Objectives: To compare oxidative stress among women with preeclampsia & normal pregnancy. Materials and Method: Thirty pre-eclamptic women and thirty women with normal pregnancy were included in study as cases and controls respectively. Serum levels of MDA, vitamin C & uric acid were estimated. Data was compared using unpaired student's t-test done by SPSS 17.0 software. Results: Cases were having significantly higher serum MDA levels than controls. There were significantly lower serum levels of vitamin C & uric acid in cases than controls (p<0.05). Conclusions: Significantly increased level of MDA & decreased level of Vitamin C & uric acid in pre-eclamptic mothers suggests that increased oxidative stress and preeclampsia are associated with each other. Elevated oxidative stress is independent risk factor for vascular diseases so it can be used as a biomarker to identify women at risk.