Urotensin 2 and Oxidative Stress Levels in Maternal Serum in Pregnancies Complicated by Intrauterine Growth Restriction

Abstract

Background and objectives: In this study, the aim was to investigate Urotensin 2 (U-II) levels and oxidant/antioxidant system parameters in pregnancies with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). Materials and Methods: A total of 36 healthy, pregnant women who had not been diagnosed with IUGR and 36 pregnant women who had been diagnosed with IUGR at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Outpatient Clinic at Gaziantep University Hospital were enrolled in this study. The serum total antioxidant status (TAS), total oxidant status (TOS), thiol-disulfide levels, U-II measurements, and oxidative stress index (OSI) calculations were carried out at the biochemistry laboratory at Gaziantep University. Results: According to this study, there was no statistically significant difference between the group with IUGR and the control group of healthy, pregnant women in terms of total antioxidant status (TAS), total oxidant status (TOS), oxidative stress index (OSI), native thiol, total thiol, disulfide, disulfide/native thiol, disulfide/total thiol, native thiol/total thiol, and U-II values. There was, however, a positive linear correlation between TOS and total thiol levels in the group with IUGR (p = 0.021, r = 0.384), and a positive linear correlation between OSI and total thiol values in the control group (p = 0.049, r = 0.330). In addition, there was a negative correlation between disulfide levels and gestational weeks at birth in the group with IUGR (p = 0.027, r = 0.369). Conclusions: Consequently, there was no significant difference between the control group and the group with pregnancies complicated by idiopathic IUGR in terms of serum oxidant/antioxidant system parameters and U-II levels. It is necessary to conduct more extensive studies evaluating placental, maternal, and fetal oxidative stress in conjunction in order to investigate the role of oxidative stress in IUGR.

Oxidative Stress Markers Differ in Two Placental Dysfunction Pathologies: Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension and Intrauterine Growth Restriction

“…In our study, only patients with diagnosed IUGR without hypertension were included and no oxidative stress in plasma was noted. Similar results were obtained by Celik et al, who compared the oxidative stress index and the total antioxidant and total oxidant status in uncomplicated pregnancy and IUGR [ 53 ]. Others observed severe OS in IUGR patients.…”

The Role of oxLDL in Intrauterine Growth Restriction and Its Relationship with Thiol Homeostasis

“…Dynamic thioldisulfide balance has been described as a relatively new marker of oxidative stress, and it is stated in the literature that it contributes to antioxidant protection, detoxification, and apoptosis (21) . In a study conducted by Celik et al,They reported that they did not find any statistically significant difference in terms of total thiol, nativ tiyol, disülfid,nativ tiyol/total tiyol,disülfid /nativ tiyol ve disülfid /total tiyol values in the comparison between the group with IUGR and the healthy pregnant group (6) . This part of the research was consistent with our findings.Oxidative stress, inflammation,and endothelial cell dysfunction play crucial roles in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis (10) .…”

“…If ROS production increase or antioxidant mechanisms decline,a condition occurs by biological system which defined as oxidative stress.Oxidative stress is an imbalance between oxidants and antioxidants on the side of oxidants (5) . Oxidative stress is considered to play a vital role in the improvement of placental inadequacy,that is one of the main reason of IUGR pathogenesis (6) . Oxidized low density lipoprotein (OxLDL) promotes to atherosclerotic plaque formation and progression by various mechanisms, including macrophage foam cell formation,induction of endothelial cell dysfunction and activation, and smooth muscle cell proliferation and migration (7) .…”

N-carbamylglutamate and L-arginine Supplementation Improve the Intestinal Oxidative Resistance of the Intrauterine Growth-retarded Ovine Fetuses 

“…IUGR animals are more susceptible to OS, an effect that is probably associated with the dysregulation between prooxidants and antioxidants. Besides, excess OS affects cell homeostasis and could predispose to cell injuries (Biri et al, 2007;Celik et al, 2019). Such dysregulation leads to cell damage, which may even result in cell death as well as irreversible oxidative damage if it remains to be out of control, nally negatively affecting organism survival and function (Yin et al, 2013b).…”