Cells (Apr 2021)

Considerations to Model Heart Disease in Women with Preeclampsia and Cardiovascular Disease

  • Clara Liu Chung Ming,
  • Kimberly Sesperez,
  • Eitan Ben-Sefer,
  • David Arpon,
  • Kristine McGrath,
  • Lana McClements,
  • Carmine Gentile

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/cells10040899
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 4
p. 899

Abstract

Read online

Preeclampsia is a multifactorial cardiovascular disorder diagnosed after 20 weeks of gestation, and is the leading cause of death for both mothers and babies in pregnancy. The pathophysiology remains poorly understood due to the variability and unpredictability of disease manifestation when studied in animal models. After preeclampsia, both mothers and offspring have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), including myocardial infarction or heart attack and heart failure (HF). Myocardial infarction is an acute myocardial damage that can be treated through reperfusion; however, this therapeutic approach leads to ischemic/reperfusion injury (IRI), often leading to HF. In this review, we compared the current in vivo, in vitro and ex vivo model systems used to study preeclampsia, IRI and HF. Future studies aiming at evaluating CVD in preeclampsia patients could benefit from novel models that better mimic the complex scenario described in this article.

Keywords