The objective of the present study was to measure the serum level of visfatin in preeclamptic Egyptian
pregnant women and the possible relation of visfatin level to each of the measured insulin resistance, body
mass index and histopathological changes of the placenta included in this study. The study population consisted of 30 preeclamptic patients and 30 matched healthy pregnant women
during the third trimester. The present study results revealed that preeclamptic mothers had a significant increase in insulin
resistance value than normal pregnant women with no significant difference in this value between mild and
severe preeclamptic sub-groups. Regarding visfatin level, there was a highly significant increase in visfatin
level in preeclamptic women compared with healthy controls and also increase in severe than mild
preeclamptic sub-groups. Correlation analysis presented a significant negative correlation between maternal
visfatin levels versus HOMA-IR among preeclamptic group, but no relation had been found between visfatin
levels and body mass index among preeclamptic mothers. Histopathological examination of placentae
revealed that infarctions, atherosis, hyalinized areas and Tenny Parkers changes were significantly increased
in preeclamptic group than control group. The present study did not find any correlations between visfatin
levels versus histopathological changes in placentae among preeclamptic mothers. Hypervisfatinemia may be one of the possible etiologies of preeclampsia. Visfatin might be part of a
feedback mechanism improving insulin sensitivity. Preeclamptic placentae exhibited definite
histopathological changes which may be attributed to the vascular insufficiency of placenta |
