Correlation between biochemical markers of endothelial dysfunction, free radical oxidation and morphometric parameters of macular retina in pregnant women with preeclampsia

Abstract

To study the relationship between biochemical indexes of blood serum, lacrimal fluid (LF) and the macular retinal volume (MRV) in pregnant women with preeclampsia. The study included 42 pregnant women aged 21 to 40 years with preeclampsia of different severity (the main group): 1st subgroup - mild degree (22 people); 2nd subgroup - average degree (12 people); 3rd subgroup - severe degree (8 people). The comparison group included 20 pregnant women aged 19 to 38 years experiencing physiologically natural pregnancy. By the 3rd trimester, in the 1st subgroup the index of MRV was between 6.4 and 9.5 mm3; the index of von Willebrand factor (vWF) - 88.9±7.3%; endothelin (ET) content in LF was 1.35±0.2 ng/ml; the indices of free radical oxidation (FRO) in lacrimal fluid (Ssp and Sind) were significantly higher than in the comparison group (p<0.01). In the 2nd subgroup: MRV was 7.4±0.5 mm3, ET - 2.2±0.3 ng/ml, and vWF - 117.2±8.5% (p<0.01); the indices of FRO were higher in comparison with the 1st subgroup. In the 3rd subgroup: MRV was 8.5±0.7 mm3, ET - 3.2±0.3 ng/ml, and vWF - 157±9.5% (difference with the 2nd subgroup p<0.01). The indices of FRO (Ssp, Sind and h) indices were maximum high (difference with the 2nd subgroup p<0.01). A trend of increase of MRV by the 3rd trimester correlating with the degrees of preeclampsia severity was found. In the main group (r from 0.71 to 0.83), strong, direct, statistically significant association was found between the increase of ET levels in LF, vWF and MRV on the one side, and FRO on the other side.