Table 2.

Plasma and Vascular Levels of Bioactive Factors and Vascular Mediators during Norm-Preg and HTN-Preg in rats.

	Site of Action	Effect	Norm-Preg	HTN-Preg	Reference
Bioactive Factor
VEGF	Endothelium	Vasorelaxation	830±33 pg/mL	594±34 pg/mL	[42]
sFlt-1	Endothelium	Anti VEGF	82±26 pg/mL	660±270 pg/mL	[43]
Endoglin	Endothelium	Anti TGF-β	8 ng/mL	17 ng/mL	[44]
Cytokines TNF-α IL-6	Endothelium Endothelium	EC Dysfunction EC Dysfunction	8±1 pg/mL 36.6±7 pg/mL	48±13 pg/mL 104.5±28.6 pg/mL	[45] [46]
HIF	DNA	Gene Transcription	↑	↑↑	[27]
ROS	Endothelium	EC Dysfunction	--	↑	[27]
Vascular Mediator
NO (Urinary Nitrite/Nitrate)	VSM	Vasorelaxation	46.4±5.3 μmol/24 hr	49.8±6.4 μmol/24 hr	[47]
PGI2	VSM	Vasorelaxation	↑	↓	[48]
ET-1	VSM, Endothelium	Vasoconstriction, Vasorelaxation	1.7 pmol/L	2.2 pmol/L	[49]
AngII	VSM	Vasoconstriction	↑	↑	[50]
VSM [Ca2+]i - Basal - PHE (10−5M) - AngII (10−7M)	Myofilaments Myofilaments Myofilaments	Basal Tone Contraction Contraction	63 ± 5 nM 149 ±8 nM 149 ±8 nM	109 ± 8 nM 234 ±1 nM 225 +/− 9 nM	[51] [51] [52]

↑↑, Greatly increased;

↑, Increased;

↓, Decreased;

--, No change, relative to nonpregnant.