Increased arterial catecholamines in pre-eclampsia.

Arterial and venous plasma catecholamines were measured in 13 pre-eclamptic and 13 normotensive pregnant women. In the pre-eclamptic group, arterial concentrations were higher for adrenaline (p less than 0,001), noradrenaline (p less than 0.05) and dopamine (p less than 0.01) than in the normotensive group, whereas in venous plasma only adrenaline (p less than 0.01) and dopamine levels were higher (p less than 0.05). Arterial adrenaline concentrations in the pre-eclamptic group were, on average, three times as high as normotensive arterial adrenaline. The arterial-venous (a-v) differences were higher for adrenaline (p less than 0.001) and dopamine (p less than 0.05) in the pre-eclamptic than in the normotensive group. In the pre-eclamptic group, arterial adrenaline was correlated with mean arterial blood pressure (r = 0.89, p less than 0.001) and with increased heart rate (r = 0.78, p less than 0.01). According to these results, both sympathetic nervous and sympathetic adrenal activities are increased in patients with pre-eclampsia.