@Article{ecn.2009.0178,
AUTHOR = {Alaa Amash, Adi Y. Weintraub, Eyal Sheiner, Atef Zeadna, Mahmoud Huleihel, Gershon Holcberg},
TITLE = {Possible therapeutic effect of magnesium sulfate in pre-eclampsia by the down-regulation of placental tumor necrosis factor-alpha secretion},
JOURNAL = {European Cytokine Network},
VOLUME = {21},
YEAR = {2010},
NUMBER = {1},
PAGES = {58--64},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/ECN/v21n1/65880},
ISSN = {1952-4005},
ABSTRACT = {Objective. To examine the effect of magnesium sulfate (MgSO<sub>4</sub>) on tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α)
secretion by preeclamptic placentas. Study design. Cotyledons of six, term, normotensive and ten, pre-eclamptic pla-centas
were dually perfused for six hours (6h), with MgSO<sub>4</sub> (6-7 mg %) in the maternal reservoir [normotensive
(n = 3); pre-eclamptic (n = 5)], and with control medium (without MgSO<sub>4</sub>) [normotensive (n = 3); pre-eclamptic
(n = 5)]. Perfusate samples from the maternal and the fetal circulations were collected every 30 min throughout the 6h
of perfusion, and examined for TNF- α levels using ELISA. Statistical significance was determined using a 2-way ana-lysis
of variance. Results. Pre-eclamptic placentas perfused with control medium (without MgSO<sub>4</sub>) secreted higher
levels of TNF-α into the fetal and the maternal circulations (1.60 ± 0.59 pg/mL/g of cotyledon and 14.28 ± 2.69 pg/mL/g
of cotyledon, respectively), as compared to the fetal and maternal circulations of normotensive placentas (0.25 ± 0.09
pg/mL/g of cotyledon and 6.73 ± 1.11 pg/mL/g of cotyledon, respectively) (p < 0.01). Addition of MgSO<sub>4</sub> to normoten-sive
placentas did not affect TNF-α levels in the fetal or maternal circulations. However, exposure of pre-eclamptic pla-centas
to MgSO<sub>4</sub> significantly decreased TNF-α levels in both the fetal (0.89 ± 0.09 pg/mL/g of cotyledon versus
1.6 ± 0.59 pg/mL/g of cotyledon; p < 0.05) and the maternal circulations (4.74 ± 2.78 pg/mL/g of cotyledon versus
14.28 ± 2.69 pg/mL/g of cotyledon; p < 0.01). Conclusion. Down-regulation of placental TNF-α secretion by MgSO<sub>4</sub> in
pre-eclampsia might indicate a possible therapeutic effect for this agent in reducing maternal, endothelial dysfunction
and in improving neonatal outcome in pre-eclampsia, by reducing TNF-α levels in maternal and fetal circulations.},
DOI = {10.1684/ecn.2009.0178}
}