Department of Biophysics and Pharmacology, Institute of Biosciences of Botucatu, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Distrito Rubiao Junior, Botucatu, São Paulo 18680-000, Brazil.
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm 17177, Sweden.
Clin Biochem. 2021 Jun;92:25-33. doi: 10.1016/j.clinbiochem.2021.03.002. Epub 2021 Mar 11.
Preeclampsia (PE) is a gestational hypertensive disease responsible for high maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. The increase in blood pressure is associated with a decrease in the bioavailability of nitric oxide (NO). Arginase interferes with NO production consuming L-arginine, a substrate required by endothelial NO synthase to NO formation. No previous study has quantified the circulating levels of the two arginase isoforms (arginase 1 and arginase 2) in the plasma of pregnant women with PE. Therefore, our objective is to evaluate these plasma levels in healthy pregnant women and PE with or without severe features and who respond or not to antihypertensive therapy.
We compared 29 healthy pregnant women with 56 pregnant women with PE, who were also divided into with severe features (n = 24) or without severe features (n = 32) and into responsive (n = 29) or nonresponsive to antihypertensive therapy (n = 27). We quantified the plasmatic expression of arginase 1 and arginase 2 by ELISA kits.
While similar levels of arginase 1 were found among groups, lower arginase 2 plasma levels were found in PE without severe features and responsive to antihypertensive drugs when compared to healthy pregnant women. There was no difference between arginase 2 levels in PE with severe features and nonresponsive group when compared to healthy pregnant women.
This shows different circulation profiles of arginase 2 among groups, suggesting the existence of mechanisms of arginase 2 modulation in pregnant women with PE associated with the severity of the disease and responsiveness to antihypertensive treatment.
子痫前期（PE）是一种妊娠高血压疾病，可导致母婴发病率和死亡率升高。血压升高与一氧化氮（NO）生物利用度降低有关。精氨酸酶通过消耗内皮型一氧化氮合酶生成一氧化氮所需的底物 L-精氨酸来干扰 NO 的产生。以前没有研究在患有 PE 的孕妇的血浆中定量测定两种精氨酸酶同工酶（精氨酸酶 1 和精氨酸酶 2）的循环水平。因此，我们的目的是评估健康孕妇和 PE 以及有无严重特征的孕妇以及对降压治疗有反应和无反应的孕妇的这些血浆水平。
我们比较了 29 名健康孕妇和 56 名患有 PE 的孕妇，其中 PE 还分为有严重特征（n=24）和无严重特征（n=32）以及对降压治疗有反应（n=29）和无反应（n=27）。我们通过 ELISA 试剂盒定量测定了精氨酸酶 1 和精氨酸酶 2 的血浆表达。
虽然各组的精氨酸酶 1 水平相似，但与健康孕妇相比，无严重特征且对降压药物有反应的 PE 患者的精氨酸酶 2 血浆水平较低。与健康孕妇相比，有严重特征和无反应组的 PE 患者的精氨酸酶 2 水平没有差异。
这表明精氨酸酶 2 在各组之间存在不同的循环特征，提示在与疾病严重程度和对降压治疗反应性相关的 PE 孕妇中存在精氨酸酶 2 调节的机制。
