Sera of preeclamptic women are not cytotoxic to endothelial cells in culture

OBJECTIVE: The null hypothesis of this study was that sera of women with preeclampsia are not cytotoxic to endothelial cells in culture. STUDY DESIGN: Endothelial cells were incubated in the presence of sera (30% vol/vol) of either preeclamptic patients (n = 11) or normal pregnant women (n = 11). Release of chromium 51 from prelabeled cells was measured after exposure to the different sera. Viability of the cells was evaluated by trypan blue exclusion and plating efficiencies. Deoxyribonucleic acid and protein synthesis were studied by measuring incorporation of tritiated thymidine and leucine into deoxyribonucleic acid and proteins, respectively. Cell growth was determined by monitoring the number of cells per culture dish during a 5-day incubation period. RESULTS: Release of chromium 51 from endothelial cells incubated in the presence of sera from preeclamptic women was similar to controls (26.3% ± 4.7% vs 26.7% ± 2.5%). There was no difference in the number of trypan blue-positive cells in cultures incubated in the presence of sera from preeclamptic women and controls. Seeding the cells in either sera from preeclamptic or control women gave the same percentage of attached cells. Similarly, preincubation of endothelial cells with either one of the two sera resulted in the same number of attached cells when they were reseeded (45% ± 6% vs 40% ± 15%, respectively). Incubation of endothelial cells with sera from preeclamptic or control women affected neither deoxyribonucleic acid nor protein synthesis of the endothelial cells. Furthermore, cell proliferation was similar in cultures incubated with sera from preeclamptic women and controls. CONCLUSION: No evidence was found that sera of women with preeclampsia are cytotoxic to endothelial cells in culture.