Oxidative damage to pre-eclamptic placenta: immunohistochemical expression of VEGF, nitrotyrosine residues and von Willebrand factor

Abstract

It could be suggested that increased oxidative stress and VEGF contribute to enhance the impairment of placental perfusion by increasing peroxynitrite formation, product of the NO and superoxide reaction, thereby partly contributing to account for the pathophysiology of this disease. The presence of vWF in the maternal space and its diminished expression in syncytiotrophoblast of pre-eclamptic placenta also might have pathogenic implications.