Effect of serum on secretion of prostacyclin and endothelin-1 by decidual endothelial cells from normal and preeclamptic pregnancies.

OBJECTIVE

Increasing circumstantial evidence suggests that the maternal endothelial cell is centrally involved in the syndrome of preeclampsia, and a number of reports have described the presence of a factor(s) that alters endothelial cell function in serum from women with preeclampsia. We have previously described differences between endothelial cells from the decidual vascular bed and those from the umbilical vein. The purposes of this study were (1) to examine the effect of serum from normal and preeclamptic women on secretion of vasoactive substances by maternal decidual endothelial cells, (2) to compare these results with those from umbilical vein endothelial cells, widely used as a surrogate for endothelial cells in general, (3) to compare responses to these sera by decidual endothelial cells from normal and preeclamptic pregnancies, and (4) to determine whether these responses are amplified by preincubation in test sera.

STUDY DESIGN

Endothelial cells were isolated from umbilical veins and from decidual biopsy specimens collected at caesarean section delivery, from both normal and preeclamptic women. Cells were maintained in culture until passage 2, when secretion by the three endothelial cell populations of the vasodilator prostacyclin (measured as its stable metabolite, 6-keto-prostaglandin F1 alpha) and the vasoconstrictor endothelin-1 was compared in the presence of serum from preeclamptic or gestational age-matched normal pregnant women.

RESULTS

Prostacyclin secretion by all endothelial cell populations was higher in the presence of serum from preeclamptic women than in medium containing serum from gestational age-matched normal pregnant women. Values for endothelin were not significantly different in cells incubated in serum from normal or preeclamptic women. Preincubation of decidual cells from preeclamptic women in test serum, particularly in preeclamptic serum, resulted in more marked stimulation of prostacyclin secretion.

CONCLUSIONS

Preeclamptic serum contains a factor(s) that stimulates prostanoid secretion from endothelial cells. This effect was observed in both umbilical vein and decidual cells. Cells from preeclamptic women were more susceptible to perturbation of their secretion by this factor. Serum from preeclamptic women did not specifically affect endothelin-1 secretion.