Li Raymond H W, Poon Sandy C S, Yu Mei Y, Wong Y F
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong.
Int J Gynecol Pathol. 2004 Oct;23(4):378-85. doi: 10.1097/01.pgp.0000139647.40620.c8.
This study investigated the expression profile of placental leptin and leptin receptor isoforms in preeclampsia, using placental tissue from normal pregnancies that were matched in gestational age and birth weight as controls. A total of 29 cases of preeclampsia were studied by immunohistochemistry, including 16 severe and 13 mild preeclampsia cases. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was further performed using RNA extracted from frozen tissue (10 severe preeclampsia, 10 mild preeclampsia, and 20 normal third trimester placentas). In all tissue sections, immunostaining signal was shown in the cytoplasmic compartment of the trophoblastic cells. Both the severe and mild preeclampsia groups showed significantly higher immunostaining for leptin compared with normal controls (p < 0.05), but there was no significant difference between the severe and mild preeclampsia groups (p > 0.05). There was no significant difference in immunostaining for leptin receptor between both severe and mild preeclampsia compared with controls (p > 0.05). RT-PCR showed significantly higher levels of mRNA transcripts of leptin in severe preeclampsia (p < 0.05), but not mild preeclampsia (p > 0.05), compared with normal controls. No significant difference in expression of all the receptor isoforms was demonstrated between both severe and mild preeclampsia groups compared with controls (p > 0.05). In conclusion, we confirmed an up-regulated expression of leptin in placental tissue in preeclampsia. However, there was no difference in the expression of all leptin receptor isoforms in placental tissue between preeclamptic and normal pregnancies. The leptin signal probably does not play a major primary role in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia.
本研究利用胎龄和出生体重相匹配的正常妊娠胎盘组织作为对照，调查了子痫前期患者胎盘瘦素和瘦素受体亚型的表达情况。通过免疫组织化学方法对29例子痫前期患者进行了研究，其中包括16例重度子痫前期和13例轻度子痫前期患者。使用从冷冻组织中提取的RNA（10例重度子痫前期、10例轻度子痫前期和20例正常妊娠晚期胎盘）进一步进行逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）。在所有组织切片中，免疫染色信号显示在滋养层细胞的细胞质区域。与正常对照组相比，重度和轻度子痫前期组的瘦素免疫染色均显著增强（p < 0.05），但重度和轻度子痫前期组之间无显著差异（p > 0.05）。与对照组相比，重度和轻度子痫前期患者的瘦素受体免疫染色均无显著差异（p > 0.05）。RT-PCR结果显示，与正常对照组相比，重度子痫前期患者的瘦素mRNA转录水平显著升高（p < 0.05），而轻度子痫前期患者则无显著升高（p > 0.05）。与对照组相比，重度和轻度子痫前期组之间所有受体亚型的表达均无显著差异（p > 0.05）。总之，我们证实了子痫前期患者胎盘组织中瘦素表达上调。然而，子痫前期妊娠和正常妊娠胎盘组织中所有瘦素受体亚型的表达并无差异。瘦素信号可能在子痫前期的发病机制中不发挥主要的原发性作用。
