Preeclampsia: the trail of failure steroidogenesis

Abstract

While pathophysiology of the maternal syndrome
of preeclampsia is better understood, that from the
placental defect – the primum movens of the disease – remains unelucidated. Modern and specific
tools like gas chromatography/mass spectrometry
have recently revealed that preeclampsia is characterized by a relatively low estradiol concentration
in maternal serum at the time of delivery. A
decrease in the placental aromatization of maternal and fetal estrogens seems to explain this defect.
Here, we make the hypothesis that an insufficient
production of estradiol plays a causal role in the
defective placental pseudovasculogenesis, a hallmark of preeclampsia, and subsequently causes the
syndrome.