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Technical Briefs |
1
Department of Neonatology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, "G. Gaslini" Institute, University Hospital, I-16148 Genoa, Italy;
2
Laboratory of Perinatal Medicine and Molecular Biology, 2nd Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University "La Sapienza", I-00128 Rome, Italy;
3
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Genoa University Hospital, I-16121 Genoa, Italy;
4
Institute of Anatomy, Catholic University, Largo Francesco Vito 1, I-00168 Rome, Italy;
aAuthor for correspondence: fax 39-0630154813, e-mail fabrizio.michetti@rm.unicatt.it
Intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) is thought to reflect suppression of genetic growth potential by decreased supplies of oxygen and substrate (1). NO supplementation may be useful in IUGR to increase uteroplacental circulation (2)(3)(4)(5). The use of biochemical markers to assess the extent of brain distress associated with NO treatment could be appropriate. S100B is an acidic calcium-binding protein of the EF-hand family concentrated in the nervous system (6). The appearance of S100B in biological fluids is an indicator of brain distress in both infants and adults (7)(8)(9)(10). Recently, blood S100B concentrations in the perinatal period have been shown to correlate with brain maturation and damage (11)(12)(13)(14).
We investigated the effect of maternal NO supplementation on brain distress in IUGR fetuses as assessed by cord blood S100B. We selected 51 pregnant women (gestational age, 27–35 weeks) with IUGR fetuses and impaired uteroplacental blood flow. Exclusion criteria included multiple pregnancies, gestational and type 1 diabetes, maternal infections and fever, fetal malformations and chromosomal abnormalities, metabolic diseases, and maternal diseases of the central nervous system. Patients were assigned, by use of computer-generated random numbers, to receive either placebo (n = 25) or transdermal glyceryl trinitrate (Nitroderm TTS; Ciba-Geigy) at a dose of 5 mg/16 h daily until delivery (n = 26). Placebo and glyceryl trinitrate patches were indistinguishable and were numbered and contained in identical envelopes so that patients did not know the group to which they were recruited. Similarly, neither the physicians nor the investigators who analyzed the samples knew which patients were treated with placebo and which with glyceryl trinitrate patches. The local ethics committee approved the study, and written informed consent was
Acknowledgments
References
The following articles in journals at HighWire Press have cited this article:
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  D. Gazzolo, D. Grutzfeld, F. Michetti, A. Toesca, M. Lituania, M. Bruschettini, A. Dobrzanska, and P. Bruschettini Increased S100B in Cerebrospinal Fluid of Infants with Bacterial Meningitis: Relationship to Brain Damage and Routine Cerebrospinal Fluid Findings Clin. Chem., May 1, 2004; 50(5): 941 - 944. [Full Text] [PDF]
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D. Gazzolo, M. Kornacka, M. Bruschettini, M. Lituania, L. Giovannini, G. Serra, U. Majewska, and F. Michetti Maternal Glucocorticoid Supplementation and S100B Protein Concentrations in Cord Blood and Urine of Preterm Infants Clin. Chem., July 1, 2003; 49(7): 1215 - 1218. [Full Text] [PDF]
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F. Michetti and D. Gazzolo S100B Protein in Biological Fluids: A Tool for Perinatal Medicine Clin. Chem., December 1, 2002; 48(12): 2097 - 2104. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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