Excessive neutrophil activity in gestational diabetes mellitus: Could it contribute to the development of preeclampsia?

Gestational diabetes mellitus is a transient form of glucose intolerance occurring during pregnancy. Pregnancies affected by gestational diabetes mellitus are at risk for the development of preeclampsia, a severe life threatening condition, associated with significant feto-maternal morbidity and mortality. It is a risk factor for long-term health in women and their offspring. Pregnancy has been shown to be associated with a subliminal degree of neutrophil activation and tightly regulated generation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). This response is excessive in cases with preeclampsia, leading to the presence of large numbers of NETs in affected placentae. We have recently observed that circulatory neutrophils in cases with gestational diabetes mellitus similarly exhibit an excessive pro-NETotic phenotype, and pronounced placental presence, as detected by expression of neutrophil elastase. Furthermore, exogenous neutrophil elastase liberated by degranulating neutrophils was demonstrated to alter trophoblast physiology and glucose metabolism by interfering with key signal transduction components. In this review we examine whether additional evidence exists suggesting that altered neutrophil activity in gestational diabetes mellitus may contribute to the development of preeclampsia. © 2018 Vokalova, van Breda, Ye, Huhn, Than, Hasler, Lapaire, Hoesli, Rossi and Hahn

Excessive Neutrophil Activity in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: Could It Contribute to the Development of Preeclampsia?

Gestational diabetes mellitus is a transient form of glucose intolerance occurring during pregnancy. Pregnancies affected by gestational diabetes mellitus are at risk for the development of preeclampsia, a severe life threatening condition, associated with significant feto-maternal morbidity and mortality. It is a risk factor for long-term health in women and their offspring. Pregnancy has been shown to be associated with a subliminal degree of neutrophil activation and tightly regulated generation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). This response is excessive in cases with preeclampsia, leading to the presence of large numbers of NETs in affected placentae. We have recently observed that circulatory neutrophils in cases with gestational diabetes mellitus similarly exhibit an excessive pro-NETotic phenotype, and pronounced placental presence, as detected by expression of neutrophil elastase. Furthermore, exogenous neutrophil elastase liberated by degranulating neutrophils was demonstrated to alter trophoblast physiology and glucose metabolism by interfering with key signal transduction components. In this review we examine whether additional evidence exists suggesting that altered neutrophil activity in gestational diabetes mellitus may contribute to the development of preeclampsia

Topology of "white" stars in relativistic fragmentation of light nuclei

In the present paper, experimental observations of the multifragmentation processes of light relativistic nuclei carried out by means of emulsions are reviewed. Events of the type of "white" stars in which the dissociation of relativistic nuclei is not accompanied by the production of mesons and the target-nucleus fragments are considered. A distinctive feature of the charge topology in the dissociation of the Ne, Mg, Si, and S nuclei is an almost total suppression of the binary splitting of nuclei to fragments with charges higher than 2. The growth of the nuclear fragmentation degree is revealed in an increase in the multiplicity of singly and doubly charged fragments with decreasing charge of the non-excited part of the fragmenting nucleus. The processes of dissociation of stable Li, Be, B, C, N, and O isotopes to charged fragments were used to study special features of the formation of systems consisting of the lightest $\alpha$, d, and t nuclei. Clustering in form of the $^3$He nucleus can be detected in "white" stars via the dissociation of neutron-deficient Be, B, C, and N isotopes.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures, 9 tables, conference: Conference on Physics of Fundamental Interactions, Moscow, Russia, 1-5 Mar 2004.(Author's translation