Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in serum of umbilical blood from the newborns of women with severe pre-eclampsia

Abstract

Objective To study the expression and significance of vascular endothelial growth factor（VEGF） in serum of umbilical blood from the newborns of women with severe pre-eclampsia.Methods Radioimmunoassay was used to measure the serum VEGF of umbilical blood from 26 newborns of women with severe pre-eclampsia （severe pre-eclmpsia group） and 30 newborns of normal pregnancy women （control group）. According to birth weightgestational age relation,severe pre-edampsia group included 15 newborns small for gestational age （SGA group） and 11 newborns appropriate for gestational age （AGA group）. Results （1） The VEGF level of umbilical vein blood and umbilical artery blood in severe pre-eclmpsia group was significantly higher than that in control group respectively（ t = 2.16, P 〈 0.05; t = 4.82, P 〈 0.01 ）. （2） In control group and severe pre-eclampsia group, the VEGF level in umbilical artery blood was significantly higher than that in umbilical vein blood （ control group： t = 2.24, P 〈 0.05 ; severe pre-cclampsia group： t = 3.00, P 〈 0.01 ）. （3） In both control group and severe pre-eclampsia group, there was no significant correlation respectively between VEGF levels in umbilical vein blood or umbilical artery blood and newborns＇ gestafional age or birth weight. （4） VEGF level of umbilical artery blood in SGA group was significantly higher than that in AGA group as well as in control group（t = 3.22, P 〈 0.01 ; t = 6.80, P 〈 0.01）. Conclusions The serum VEGF level of umbilical vein blood and umbilical artery blood from the newborns of women with severe preeclampsia was significantly higher than that of normal pregnancy women respectively. The VEGF level of umbilical artery blood can reflect the severity degree of the damage of hypertensive disorder complicating pregnancy to their newborns to some degree. Key words: Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor; Severe Pre-eclampsia; Iscliemia-hypoxia; Umbilical Blood; Newborn