Scientists are prepared to develop a potential lab test in order to diagnose the pregnancy complication known as preeclampsia. Preeclampsia often leads to premature delivery and can be fatal to both mother and baby.
Researchers at Brown University and Women and Infants Hospital have also created a well defined animal model of preeclampsia. Study representatives report that the modal is the first pregnancy specific animal model and the predictive assay is the first where the researchers are able to go back to the first trimester to predict problems.
Based upon research that has shown to link the immune system secretion IL-10 with a successful pregnancy, researchers began experimenting with mice genetically engineered to lack IL-10.
The hypothesis was that if they isolated blood serum from human patients with preeclampsia and gave a dose of it to the mice that the mice would develop symptoms of preeclampsia. The significance of having an animal model for this pregnancy complication allows experiments that can shed light on the disease, its cause and its progression.
The findings of this study will enable physicians to predict and possible head off preeclampsia in the earliest stages of pregnancy eliminating the incidence of sudden unexpected symptoms and premature births or deaths caused by this frightening condition.
Pregnant women have enough medical things to worry about, being able to predict and treat a condition as dangerous as preeclampsia will make things less scary for expectant mothers and the entire process less traumatic for both mother and baby.
