Skip Navigation



Mol. Hum. Reprod. Advance Access published online on March 3, 2006
Molecular Human Reproduction, doi:10.1093/molehr/gal016
This Article
Right arrow Advance Access manuscript (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
12/3/181    most recent
gal016v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Al-Ghafra, A.
Right arrow Articles by King, R.G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Al-Ghafra, A.
Right arrow Articles by King, R.G.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received November 7, 2005
Accepted January 9, 2006

Article

Increased adrenomedullin protein content and mRNA expression in human fetal membranes but not placental tissue in pre-eclampsia

A. Al-Ghafra 1, N.M. Gude 1 *, S.P. Brennecke 1, and R.G. King 2

1 Department of Perinatal Medicine, Royal Women’s Hospital, Carlton; Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Melbourne, Parkville
2 Department of Pharmacology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
N.M. Gude, E-mail: neil.gude{at}rwh.org.au


  Abstract

The relationship between Pre-eclampsia (PE) and placental production of Adrenomedullin (AdM) is not completely understood. This study measured placental and fetal membrane AdM protein concentrations by specific radioimmunoassay and mRNA expression by Northern blot analysis in samples obtained at either term or preterm gestation from women either in labour or not in labour. Samples were obtained from women with normotensive and pre-eclamptic pregnancies. There were significant increases in immunoreactive AdM protein concentration (pg/mg DNA) in choriodecidua and amnion of women with PE compared to normal pregnancy for the preterm not-in-labour group (choriodecidua: control 124 ± 16, n = 10, PE 361 ± 35, n = 10; amnion: control 94 ± 12, n = 10, PE 153 ± 19, n = 10) and for the term not-in-labour (choriodecidua: control 128 ± 17, n = 14, PE 459 ± 51, n = 8; amnion: control 112 ± 15, n = 14, PE 253 ± 57, n = 8) and in-labour (choriodecidua: control 531 ± 74, n = 14, PE 881 ± 188, n = 8; amnion: control 545 ± 84, n = 14, PE 1008 ± 230, n = 8) groups. AdM mRNA relative abundance was greater in preterm, not-in-labour choriodecidual samples in PE, but not in amnion. In addition, this study observed labour-associated increases in choriodecidual and amniotic irAdM in term pre-eclamptic and control patients. However, there were no significant changes in AdM protein or mRNA expressions between any of the groups for placental tissue. These results suggest that fetal membranes, but not placental, production of AdM is increased at the post-translational level during PE in preterm and term tissues and at the pre-translational level during PE in preterm tissues. Fetal membranes, AdM may play an important role in the regulation of feto-placental hemodynamics and fetal physiology during pre-eclampsia.

Keywords: adrenomedullin/fetal membranes/placenta/pre-eclampsia.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.