Abstract
Background Preeclampsia is characterized by a marked increase in peripheral vascular resistance leading to an increase in blood pressure, but the triggering mechanisms are unclear. Methods To determine whether augmented sympathetic vasoconstrictor activity may be an important mechanism in mediating the increase in vasomotor tone, we measured postganglionic sympathetic-nerve activity in the blood vessels of skeletal muscle by means of intraneural microelectrodes in nine women with preeclampsia, eight normotensive pregnant women, six normotensive nonpregnant women, and seven nonpregnant women with hypertension, both at rest and during noninvasive cardiovascular-reflex testing (with the Valsalva maneuver and the cold pressor test). Results The mean (±SE) rate of sympathetic-nerve activity in the normotensive pregnant women (10±1 bursts per minute) was not significantly different from that in normotensive nonpregnant women (12±2 bursts per minute) or hypertensive nonpregnant women (15±3 bursts per minute). In...
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