Submitted February 9, 2006
Returned for revision March 14, 2006
Accepted May 11, 2006
Pregnancy
Reactivity of Human Placental Chorionic Plate Vessels from
Pregnancies Complicated by Intrauterine Growth Restriction
(IUGR)
Mark Wareing *,
Susan L. Greenwood ,
Gregor K. Fyfe ,
and
Philip N. Baker
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mark.wareing{at}man.ac.uk.
Abstract
A successful pregnancy is dependent upon liberal placental perfusion via the maternal and fetal circulations. Doppler waveform analyses of umbilical arteries suggest increased resistance to flow in the fetoplacental circulation of pregnancies complicated by intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). Neither the site nor mediator(s) responsible for this altered vascular reactivity are known. In placentas for normal pregnancy, reduced oxygenation promotes contraction in the in vitro perfused placental cotyledon and modulates agonist-induced contraction of chorionic plate arteries and veins. Placental oxygenation has also been suggested to be reduced in IUGR. We tested the hypothesis that oxygen tension could directly modify placental chorionic plate vessel vasoreactivity in IUGR.
Small arteries and veins from the chorionic plate were dissected from biopsies from placentas of pregnancies complicated by IUGR and studied using parallel wire myography.
Vasoconstriction in 20%, 7% and 2% oxygen was assessed utilizing the thromboxane-mimetic U46619. Experiments were also performed in the presence of 4-aminopyridine (4AP), a blocker of voltage-gated potassium (Kv) channels. Increased oxygenation reduced venous but did not modify arterial vasoconstriction. 4AP increased basal tone in both arteries and veins.
We suggest that venoconstriction in response to hypoxia may provide a mechanism for increased fetoplacental vascular resistance associated with IUGR.
Key words:
Pregnancy •
Placenta
