Vitamin D supplementation plays an important role in restoring angiogenic balance and reducing inflammation in pregnancy-induced hypertension. - GreenMedInfo Summary
Vitamin D restores angiogenic balance and decreases tumor necrosis factor-α in a rat model of pre-eclampsia.
J Obstet Gynaecol Res. 2016 Nov 12. Epub 2016 Aug 12. PMID: 27862673
Jing Song
AIM: Deficiency of vitamin D is correlated with pre-eclampsia (PE), a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy, and is characterized by angiogenic imbalance and inflammation. The aim of this study was to investigate whether vitamin D supplementation can restore the angiogenic balance and ameliorate inflammation in a rat model of PE.
METHODS: PE was induced using l-nitroarginine methylester. Normal pregnant and PE-induced rats were supplemented with vitamin D on gestation days 14-19.
RESULTS: Blood pressure was significantly increased in PE-induced rats compared with normal pregnant rats (P<0.05), and vitamin D supplementation ameliorated this difference. In addition, rats from the PE group had lower vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF; P<0.01), and higher plasma-soluble FMS-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α; P<0.01 for both) compared with the normal pregnant group. The vitamin D treatment group had significantly increased VEGF, and reduced sFlt-1 and TNF-α compared with the untreated PE group. Moreover, vitamin D supplementation was able to reduce the oxidative stress by lowering the plasma oxidative stress marker malondialdehyde.
CONCLUSION: Vitamin D supplementation plays an important role in restoring angiogenic balance and reducing inflammation in pregnancy-induced hypertension.