FIGURE 1.

A schematic illustration of SDEVs in the pathophysiology of preeclampsia. Ischemic and hypoxic injures to the placenta induce syncytiotrophoblast cells to undergo apoptosis and release SDEVs into the maternal circulation, where they induce endothelial injury, inflammation, and hypercoagulation. It remains debatable as whether SDEVs from women with normal pregnancies and those from PE patients have similar or distinct structures and biological activities. If it is the former, the same process could occur during normal pregnancies, but at a much lower level. If it is the latter, SDEVs from the two conditions may elicit very distinct systemic responses. In this case, the process depicted here is developed based on research and clinical findings from PE.