The Study of the Relationship Between Blood Microvesicle Structure in Pregnant Women with Subsequent Placenta-Associated Complications

Study Objective: To find the relationship between the levels of mitochondrial signal protein sequences in blood microvesicles of pregnant women and subsequent development of foetal growth retardation syndrome (FGRS), low birth-weight baby, preeclampsia (PE) or foetuses and newborns with normal weight and height.
Study Design: Prospective comparative study.
Materials and Methods. The microvesicular blood plasma fraction of women with placenta-associated complications in the outcome of previous pregnancies was studied as a risk group for their recurrence (n = 96). The study group was divided into 4 sub-groups: sub-group IА included 32 patients with pregnancies complicated with FGRS; sub-group IB comprised 20 patients with FGRS and PE; sub-group IC included 24 pregnant women, whose newborns were small for gestation age; sub-group ID was 20 pregnant women with a history of placenta-associated complications and abnormal Doppler velocimetry results, whose postnatal weight and height did not differ from normal values. The control group consisted of 20 women with a physiological course of pregnancy. The microvesicular fraction of the peripheral blood of the patients was obtained by differential plasma ultracentrifugation. Protein of the outer membrane of mitochondria (VDAC1), mitochondrial DNA transcription and replication activator (TFAM), recombinant protein of the outer membrane of mitochondria (MFN2), and TAZ protein encoding cardiolipin modelling in oxidative damage were measured by western blot analysis using a monoclonal antibody panel.
Study Results. Plasma microvesicles in patients with subsequent placenta-associated complications demonstrated decreased levels of a number of mitochondrial proteins (VDAC1, TFAM, MFN2, OPA1). Levels of these proteins determine successful intercellular signaling on the adequate functional activity of mitochondria, their integrity and normal biogenesis.
Conclusion. The obtained results allow to make a conclusion about a pronounced violation of mitochondrial biogenesis in the body of women with intrauterine growth restriction, which probably makes a serious contribution to the development of pathology and its progression.

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