FRIDAY, May 16 (HealthDay News) -- Pregnant mice lacking the catechol-O-methyltransferase gene, which generates an estradiol metabolite that has been implicated in preeclampsia, develop a preeclampsia-like disorder, according to the results of a study published online May 11 in Nature. Treating mice with the metabolite improved features of the disorder.
Keizo Kanasaki, from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues examined the phenotype of mice lacking the COMT gene, which generates 2-methoxyestradiol (2-ME), a natural metabolite of estradiol whose levels increase during pregnancy.
The researchers found that the pregnant mice lacking COMT developed a preeclampsia-like phenotype and had lower levels of 2-ME than normal pregnant mice. Administering 2-ME to the mutant mice improved the preeclampsia-like features without toxicity and suppressed signs of hypoxia. Women with severe preeclampsia had significantly lower levels of COMT and 2-ME, the report notes.
"Our studies identify a genetic mouse model for preeclampsia and suggest that 2-ME may have utility as a plasma and urine diagnostic marker for this disease, and may also serve as a therapeutic supplement to prevent or treat this disorder," Kanasaki and colleagues conclude.
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