Abstract

BIOCHEMICAL CHANGES IN PLATELETS OF PRE-ECLAMPTIC WOMEN

Gayathri Gunalan, R. Balabhaskar*, B. Anitha, N. Sangeetha and R. Meena

Abstract

Pre-eclampsia is a medical condition where hypertension arises in pregnancy (pregnancy-induced hypertension) in association with significant amounts of protein in the urine. The pathogenesis of preeclampsia is not clear but various researchers demonstrated that some kind of endothelial injury, increased platelet aggregation, decreased Glomerular filtration rate (GFR), disseminated intravascular coagulation have links with the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia. This condition occurs in as many as 10% of pregnancies, usually in the second or third trimester and after the 32nd week of gestation. The study was performed on 30 samples of normal and pre-eclampsia subjects obtained from SRM Medical College Hospital. The RBC count, platelet count and Hemoglobin levels were found to be significantly decreased in pre-eclampsia than of normal pregnant women whereas the total WBC was found to be higher in pre-eclampsia. The blood urea and serum creatinine levels were elevated significantly in pre-eclampsia than of normal pregnant women. The total protein and albumin levels were reduced than the normal. The activity of membrane bound enzymes of platelets such as ATPase, Na+ K+- ATPase, Ca2+-ATPase, Mg2+- ATPase were found to be elevated in pre-eclampsia. The membrane glycoproteins were found to be reduced than in normal pregnant volunteers. This study highlights the membrane changes in platelets leads to abnormal aggregation of platelets which may be one of the causative factor for pre-eclampsia.

Keywords: Pre-eclampsia, Normal Pregnant, Platelets, membrane bound ATPases, membrane glycoproteins.