Early Onset Preeclampsia Is Associated With Glycocalyx Degradation and Reduced Microvascular Perfusion.

ABSTRACT: Background The endothelial glycocalyx is a vasoprotective barrier between the blood and endothelium. We hypothesized that glycocalyx degradation is present in preeclampsia, a pregnancy-specific hypertensive disorder characterized by endothelial dysfunction and activation. Methods and Results We examined the sublingual glycocalyx noninvasively using sidestream dark field imaging in the third trimester among women with normotensive pregnancies (n=73), early (n=14) or late (n=29) onset preeclampsia, or gestational diabetes mellitus (n=21). We calculated the width of the glycocalyx that was permeable to red blood cells (called the perfused boundary region, a measure of glycocalyx degradation) and the percentage of vessels that were filled with red blood cells ≥50% of the time (a measure of mic

SUBMITTER: Weissgerber TL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6405679 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature