Immunology of preeclampsia.
1991; National Institutes of Health; Volume: 15; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
Autores Tópico(s)
Birth, Development, and Health
ResumoP reeclampsia is characterized by a polymorphic maternal syndrome and fetal compromise, secondary to disturbed placental function. Although eclampsia has been reported in a gorilla,’ the disease is not a recognized complication of pregnancy in nonhuman primates. Preeclampsia is primarily a placental disease, but its precise cause is unknown. It is believed that it progresses in three stages: deficient placentation* that results in placental ischemia, which in turn leads to maternal disease resulting from generalized endothelial dysfunction.3 Poor placentation affects the spiral arteries, or the end arteries of the uteroplacental circulation, which fail to adapt and so retain their musculo-elastic structure that is normally lost in their terminal segments. Subsequently, the arteries are obstructed by acute atherosis, which comprises endothelial deposits of fibrin, aggregated platelets, and fat-filled macrophages (foam cells). Whereas poor placentation is a problem of the first half of pregnancy (6 to 8 weeks), the time course of the evolution of acute atherosis is not known, but it probably develops about at the time when the maternal syndrome is appearing.
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