LAUSR

Introduction Preeclampsia is characterized by hypertension and proteinuria at ⩾20 weeks of gestation and it is the leading cause of fetal-maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide. The pathophysiology of this syndrome is complex and involves several processes. One of these, widely validated in the literature is oxidative stress, which is the prevalence of free radical production and/or reduction of antioxidant activity. Trans-resveratrol is an antioxidant that acts by several mechanisms, including eNOS and heme-oxigenase-1 (HO-1) stimulation and reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging, and it has been studied in the management of preeclampsia. Objective To evaluate the effect of trans-resveratrol incubated with plasma from healthy pregnant (HP) and preeclamptic patients (PE) on nitrite (nitric oxide metabolite), HO-1 and ROS levels in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Methods HUVECs were co-incubated with trans-resveratrol (1 uM) and 10% (v/v) plasma from HP and PE (n = 4 and 8, respectively) for 24 h. Nitrite, HO-1 and ROS levels were measured by Griess assay, ELISA and DCFH fluorescent dye, respectively. Results Nitrite and HO-1 concentrations were reduced in PE compared to HP (Nitrite: 1.5 ± 0.5 vs. 4.9 ± 0.8 uM, p = 0.004; HO-1: 297 ± 42 vs. 590 ± 147 pg/mL, p = 0.038, respectively). Trans-resveratrol significantly increased nitrite and HO-1 concentrations only in PE (Nitrite: 3.0 ± 0.6 vs. 1.5 ± 0.5 uM, p = 0.002; HO-1: 336 ± 46 vs. 297 ± 42 pg/mL, p = 0.038, respectively). ROS levels was not significantly different between PE and HP (14.6 × 10[c] ± 1.9 × 10[c] vs. 11.1 × 10[c] ± 3.0 × 10[c] fluorescence intensity, p = 0.316, respectively), however trans-resveratrol significantly decreased ROS only in PE (9.9 × 10[c] ± 1.5 × 10[c] vs. 14.6 × 10[c] ± 1.9 × 10[c] fluorescence intensity, p = 0.005, respectively). Discussion Trans-resveratrol was able to increase nitrite and HO-1 concentrations and to decrease ROS levels in HUVECs incubated with plasma from preeclamptic patients. Our results showed that trans-resveratrol is acting through different mechanisms contributing to reduce oxidative stress, which suggests that it could be beneficial in the management of preeclampsia. Financial Support: FAPESP ( 2015/20461-8 ) and CAPES .