this study aimed to evaluate the expression of CRH in the chorionic villi and in the decidua of human placentas of women with different types of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP).
116 placental biopsies collected from 2013 to 2014 were analyzed, and they were grouped as follows: (a) control group (C): 12 cases; (b) gestational hypertension (GH): 23 cases; (c) preeclampsia/eclampsia (PE): 30 cases; (d) chronic hypertension (CH) 25 cases and (e) preeclampsia superimposed on chronic hypertension (PSCH): 26 cases. Of these cases, 54 biopsy samples were from preterm deliveries (<37 weeks) and 62 were from term deliveries (mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S2210778916301659&_mathId=si1.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S2210778916301659&_rdoc=1&_issn=22107789&md5=dad04880d058c1ca83d97a48370106f4" title="Click to view the MathML source">⩾37 weeks). The expression of CRH in the chorionic villi and in the decidua was assessed by immunohistochemistry; the immunostained areas were quantified using Leica Qwin Plus® image analysis software and expressed as percentage of positive area per field. ANOVA (F) followed by Tukey’s test was used for statistical analysis; p science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S2210778916301659&_mathId=si2.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S2210778916301659&_rdoc=1&_issn=22107789&md5=f7e50df0194555e5fe876297c8f9a0ec" title="Click to view the MathML source">< 0.05.
33.33% (18) of preterm pregnancies were diagnosed with PE, 20.37% (11) were diagnosed with GH, 20.37% (11) had CH, and 25.93% (14) had PSCH; whereas 19.35% (12) of term pregnancies had PE, 19.35% (12) were diagnosed with GH, 22.58% (14) had CH, 19.35% (12) PSCH, and 19.35% (12) were control cases. In term pregnancies, cases with PE, GH, CH and PSCH showed an increased expression of CRH in the chorionic villi and in the decidua than group C (p science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S2210778916301659&_mathId=si2.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S2210778916301659&_rdoc=1&_issn=22107789&md5=f7e50df0194555e5fe876297c8f9a0ec" title="Click to view the MathML source">< 0.0001). In the preterm group, the expression was higher in cases associated with PE and PSCH in both regions.
altered expression of CRH is observed in HDP, and it occurred in all types of term HDP in both regions analyzed. In preterm pregnancies, expression was more prominently increased in the decidua of the PE and PSCH cases. Therefore, CRH expression behaved similarly in term pregnancy cases with HDP, but the expression varied in the preterm cases associated with PE, thus demonstrating that the levels of placental oxidative stress were higher in these cases.