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Objective: Phagocyte function of neutrophil granulocytes and monocytes is decreased in healthy pregnancy and further decreased in preeclampsia. The cause of the declined function is unknown. Decreased phagocyte function can lead to the higher infection rate in healthy pregnancy and may also be responsible for the increased susceptibility to infections and high trophoblast concentration in preeclampsia. The aim of this study is to examine the phagocyte function of neutrophil granulocytes and monocytes., Methods: Monocytes and neutrophil granulocytes were separated from the peripheral circulation of six nonpregnant patients and incubated in plasma samples from six healthy pregnant, six preeclamptic pregnant, and six nonpregnant patients. The cells were marked and evaluated for the phagocytosis index with immunofluorescent microscope after phagocyting the zymosan molecules., Results: Phagocyte function of neutrophils as well as monocytes from nonpregnant patients were decreased significantly when the cells were incubated in plasma samples from healthy pregnant patients, and further decreased when incubated in plasma samples from preeclamptic pregnant women., Conclusion: The decreased phagocyte function of neutrophil granulocytes and that of monocytes in healthy pregnancy and the further decreased phagocyte function in preeclampsia is caused by factor(s) in the maternal circulation.

Neutrophil granulocytes and monocytes have been intensively studied, but there is no scientific data on one of their most important functions, namely the phagocyte function in pregnancy and preeclampsia. The aim of this study was to examine this function. Twenty-five healthy pregnant, 25 preeclamptic pregnant, and 20 healthy, non-pregnant women were enrolled into our study. Cells were isolated from peripheral blood samples, marked and evaluated for the phagocytic index with an immunofluorescent microscope after phagocytosing the zymosan molecules. The phagocytic function of monocytes and neutrophil granulocytes decreased significantly in healthy pregnancy compared with non-pregnant women and in preeclampsia, and it decreased significantly compared with healthy pregnancy. Decreased phagocytic function in healthy pregnancy can be a part of the maternal immunosuppression, which is essential for the protection of the hemiallograft fetus. Further reduction of phagocytic function may be one of the immunoregulatory abnormalities found in preeclampsia., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This study has examined whether production of superoxide-anion by granulocytes differs between non-pregnant, healthy pregnant and preeclamptic pregnant women. First, we assessed superoxide-anion production in 13 non-pregnant women, 11 healthy pregnant women and 14 preeclamptic pregnant women. Then, we examined the effect of plasma samples of healthy pregnant and preeclamptic pregnant women on superoxide production by neutrophils separated from healthy pregnant women. Superoxide generation was measured by ferricytochrome-c reduction. Phorbol-12,13-dibutyrate- and n-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine-stimulated superoxide-anion production was significantly decreased in healthy pregnant women's granulocytes compared with non-pregnant women. There was no significant difference between granulocyte superoxide-anion production in preeclamptic pregnant and non-pregnant women. When neutrophils from non-pregnant women were incubated in plasma from healthy pregnant women, the granulocyte phorbol-12,13-dibutyrate-stimulated superoxide-anion production was significantly inhibited. With the same stimulator, there were no significant differences between superoxide-anion production of neutrophils incubated in autologous, non-pregnant and preeclamptic pregnant plasma. If n-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine was used for stimulation, there were no significant differences in the superoxide-anion production of granulocytes in either group. Granulocyte superoxide-anion production decreases during pregnancy; this decrease does not occur in preeclampsia, and may cause endothelial damage. It is conceivable that there are unidentified factors in maternal circulation which inhibit superoxide-anion production by granulocytes in healthy pregnant women.