Placental Gene Expression in Response to Histamine and Oxygen

Maternal Blood histamine levels are tightly controlled in normal pregnancy. However, in specific complications of human pregnancy such as pre-eclampsia the levels of both placental and maternal blood histamine increase. Increasing blood histamine levels nonetheless, have been associated with oxidative stress, endothelial dysfunction, abnormal tissue growth, and Th1/TH2 imbalance, which are also linked to pre-eclampsia. Little is known of the molecular responses in the placenta to the prolonged exposure to increasing histamine levels in the presence of changing oxygen concentrations.

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Brew O, Sullivan MHF