الفهرس 
Introduction and aim of the workOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Pre-eclampsia [PE] is defined as the onset of proteinuria and hypertension after 20 weeks of gestation in previously normotensive non proteinuric pregnant women and characterized by widespread dysfunction of the endothelium in the mother . It affects nearly 2-8% of all pregnancies worldwide. This condition is one of the most common complications of pregnancy and there is no known treatment of this case other than cesarean section and delivery of the placenta.
This study is concerned with the description of structural changes in fetal part of placenta of preeclamptic rat following L-NAME administration and study the possible protective and/or the curative effect of 17-hydroxyprogesterone caproate (17-OHPC) on the placenta against L-NAME induced injury. Also, to shed a light on the possible mechanisms of its effect.
To display the role of 17-OHPC in this preeclamptic model, 24 female albino rats were used. After one week of adaptation, each female rat was separately mated overnight with adult male rat. Day 0 of pregnancy was defined as the day when the spermatozoa were found in the vaginal smear. Pregnant rats were randomly divided into four groups (6 rats each): GroupI; the control group received standard rat chow diet and water. group II; the preeclamptic group received 50 mg/kg body weight/day of L-NAME dissolved in distilled water by gavage from day 14 to day 19 of gestation. group III; the prophylactic group 6 rats received 17-OHPC in a dose of 6.6 mg/kg by intraperitoneal injection on day 7 of gestation and followed by induction of pre-eclampsia by L-NAME on day 14 of gestation as in group II. group IV; the treated group 6 rats received L-NAME ( the same as group II) followed by 17-OHPC in a dose of 6.6 mg/kg intraperitoneally administered on day 18 of gestation and followed by the last dose of L-NAME on day 19 of gestation. On day 19 of pregnancy , the rats were placed in metabolic cage for 24-hour urine collection. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) were measured using a tail-cuff method. Rats were sacrified, placentae were taken out, rapidly fixed, and processed for light microscopic, immunocytochemical, and morphometrical studies.
The results of the current study revealed that:
The blood pressure and 24-hour protein in urine of the preeclampsia group were significantly higher in compared to the control group. 17-OHPC prophylactic group showed decrease in blood pressure and 24- hour protein in urine, compared to preeclampsia group, while blood pressure and proteinuria of 17-OHPC treated group nearly returned the normal level as compared to the control group.
In hematoxylin and eosin stained sections: L-NAME administration caused marked changes in the labyrinthine zone like, dilated maternal blood sinuses, congestion of blood vessels, hemosiderin granules deposition, disruption of interhemal membrane,and inflammatory cell infiltration. Chorionic projections showed marked edema in the extraembryonic fetal membrane, dilated fetal blood capillaries with nucleated RBCS. Other blood capillaries showed thrombus occluding their lumen. 17-OHPC in prophylactic group showed minimal improvement of these changes, while administration of 17-OHPC in treated group showed marked improvement of the previous morphological changes.