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Mechanisms and Potential Therapies for Preeclampsia

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Abstract

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy-induced hypertensive disorder found most commonly in nulliparous women. Recent research performed in animal models of the disease has revealed some of the underlying mechanisms of preeclampsia. Specifically, placental insufficiency and the resulting hypoxia/ischemia have been shown to be crucial to disease progression. In response to placental hypoxia/ischemia, several pathways are activated, which contribute to the clinical manifestations of the disease: increased circulating levels of the anti-angiogenic protein sFlt-1, activation of the maternal inflammatory response, suppressed nitric oxide production, enhanced endothelin-1 production, and induction of reactive oxygen formation. Despite advances in the understanding of the disorder, therapeutic approaches to the treatment of preeclampsia are severely limited. New lines of research, however, indicate some possible new therapeutic approaches for the management of preeclampsia and offer hope for an effective pharmacologic intervention.

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  1. Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Mississippi Medical Center, 2500 North State Street, Jackson, MS, 39216, USA

    Eric M. George & Joey P. Granger

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  1. Eric M. George
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  2. Joey P. Granger
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Correspondence to Joey P. Granger.

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George, E.M., Granger, J.P. Mechanisms and Potential Therapies for Preeclampsia. Curr Hypertens Rep 13, 269–275 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11906-011-0204-0

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