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Author: search.filters.author.Naicker, ThajasvarieHas files: No

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    Placental leptin mRNA expression and serum leptin levels in pre-eclampsia associated with HIV infection
    (Taylor and Fancis Online, 2016-10-03) Haffejee, Firoza; Naicker, Thajasvarie; Singh, Moganavelli; Kharsany, Ayesha B.M.; Adhikari, Miriam; Singh, Ravesh; Maharaj, Niren; Moodley, Jagidesa
    Leptin, primarily produced by adipocytes, is implicated in the development of pre-eclampsia. This study examines placental leptin production and serum leptin levels in HIV infected and uninfected normoten-sive and pre-eclamptic pregnancies. Placental leptin production was analysed by RT-PCR and serum lep-tin levels by ELISA in normotensive (n ¼ 90) and pre-eclamptic (n ¼ 90) pregnancies which were further stratified by HIV status. Placental leptin production was higher in pre-eclampsia compared to normoten-sive pregnancies irrespective of HIV status (p ¼ .04). Serum leptin was non-significantly raised in HIV uninfected (p ¼ .42) but lower in HIV-infected (p ¼ .03) pre-eclampsia. The latter had lower BMI (p ¼ .007) and triceps skin-fold thickness (p < .001) than the HIV uninfected groups with a significant correlation between serum leptin and triceps skin-fold thickness (p < .001), indicative of less adipose tissue in HIV-infected women with consequently lower serum leptin. Thus, serum leptin levels are not indicative of increased placental production when pre-eclampsia is associated with HIV infection.
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    Endoglin in HIV-associated preeclamptic placentae
    (Informa Healthcare, 2015) Govender, Nalini; Naicker, Thajasvarie; Moodley, Jagidesa
    Objective: To examine the placental immunoexpression of endoglin (Eng), in HIV-negative and HIV-positive normotensive (N and N+) and preeclamptic (P and P+) pregnancies at term, using immunohistochemistry and immunoelectron microscopy. Results: Strong Eng immunoreactivity was observed within endothelial cells, syncytio-and cyto-trophoblast cell populations. All extravillous trophoblast cells were immuno-positive for Eng. Subcellularly, gold particles were immunolocalised within the endoplasmic reticulum, and mitochondria. Immunoexpression of Eng differed signifi-cantly between exchange (p = 0.02) and conducting villi (p50.001). A higher Eng immunoexpression was observed in both villi types of the preeclamptic compared to normotensive groups. Irrespective of pregnancy type (normotensive versus PE), there was no significant effect of HIV status on Eng immunoexpression within the exchange and conducting villi. Conclusion: The immunostaining of Eng within the endothelial cells, syncytio-, cyto- and extravillous trophoblast cell populations of HIV-associated preeclamptic placentae is novel. Endoglin and its soluble component remains an area for dynamic placental exploration in preeclampsia development.