FIGURE 1.

Inflammation of the glomerular endothelium causes the loss of HS, thereby triggering proteinuria in women with PE: a proposed model. In normal conditions (left side), the GFB performs its function of filtration, which is characterized by selective permeability to albumin due to HS in the glomerular endothelial glycocalyx, through its three layers. When a glomerular endothelial inflammation is established (right side), as is the case of PE, the increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines promotes the heparanase-mediated endoglucosidic activity of HS, which leads to the loss of anionic sites and, consequently, proteinuria.