Cerebral Biomarkers and Blood-Brain Barrier Integrity in Preeclampsia
Therese Friis,
Anna-Karin Wikström,
Jesenia Acurio,
José León,
Henrik Zetterberg,
Kaj Blennow,
Maria Nelander,
Helena Åkerud,
Helena Kaihola,
Catherine Cluver,
Felipe Troncoso,
Pablo Torres-Vergara,
Carlos Escudero,
Lina Bergman
Affiliations
Therese Friis
Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University, 75185 Uppsala, Sweden
Anna-Karin Wikström
Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University, 75185 Uppsala, Sweden
Jesenia Acurio
Vascular Physiology Laboratory, Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University of Bío-Bío, Chillán 3810178, Chile
José León
Vascular Physiology Laboratory, Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University of Bío-Bío, Chillán 3810178, Chile
Henrik Zetterberg
Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, The Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, 43180 Mölndal, Sweden
Kaj Blennow
Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, The Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, 43180 Mölndal, Sweden
Maria Nelander
Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University, 75185 Uppsala, Sweden
Helena Åkerud
Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, 75185 Uppsala, Sweden
Helena Kaihola
Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, 75185 Uppsala, Sweden
Catherine Cluver
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town 7500, South Africa
Felipe Troncoso
Vascular Physiology Laboratory, Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University of Bío-Bío, Chillán 3810178, Chile
Pablo Torres-Vergara
Group of Research and Innovation in Vascular Health (GRIVAS Health), Chillán 3810178, Chile
Carlos Escudero
Vascular Physiology Laboratory, Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University of Bío-Bío, Chillán 3810178, Chile
Lina Bergman
Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University, 75185 Uppsala, Sweden
Cerebral complications in preeclampsia contribute substantially to maternal mortality and morbidity. There is a lack of reliable and accessible predictors for preeclampsia-related cerebral complications. In this study, plasma from women with preeclampsia (n = 28), women with normal pregnancies (n = 28) and non-pregnant women (n = 16) was analyzed for concentrations of the cerebral biomarkers neurofilament light (NfL), tau, neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and S100B. Then, an in vitro blood–brain barrier (BBB) model, based on the human cerebral microvascular endothelial cell line (hCMEC/D3), was employed to assess the effect of plasma from the three study groups. Transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER) was used as an estimation of BBB integrity. NfL and tau are proteins expressed in axons, NSE in neurons and S100B in glial cells and are used as biomarkers for neurological injury in other diseases such as dementia, traumatic brain injury and hypoxic brain injury. Plasma concentrations of NfL, tau, NSE and S100B were all higher in women with preeclampsia compared with women with normal pregnancies (8.85 vs. 5.25 ng/L, p p p p p p = 0.002) in an in vitro model of the BBB, a finding which indicates that NfL could be a promising biomarker for BBB alterations in preeclampsia.
