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Objective: To compare the antioxidant nutrients and lipid peroxide levels in preeclampsia and normal pregnant women., Methods: Antioxidant nutrients (vitamin A and E) were measured by high-pressure liquid chromatography, vitamin C was measured by the dinitrophenyl hydrazine method, lipid peroxides were measured by the malondialdehyde method in 20 severe preeclampsia, 30 mild preeclampsia and 60 normal pregnant women as controls., Results: Vitamin C levels in severe and mild preeclampsia were significantly less than those in control group. The corrected vitamin E and vitamin A levels were significantly decreased only in severe preeclampsia. While the lipid peroxide levels in both mild and severe preeclampsia were significantly increased when compared with the nomal pregnancy., Conclusions: Preeclampsia is associated with the imbalance between lipid peroxides and antioxidant nutrients (vitamin C and E). The imbalances favour lipid peroxides with the increasing severity of preeclampsia.

Serum magnesium levels were determined in severe preeclampsia patients who were treated with magnesium sulfate infusion. Forty-four patients with diagnosis of severe preeclampsia between 30-41 weeks gestation, given a conventional 5 g magnesium sulfate intravenous bolus infusion and 1 g/hr continuous infusion and continued 24 hours postpartum, were prospectively studied. The mean pre-treatment magnesium level was 2.3 +/- 0.3 mg/dl which was similar to those reports. The levels measured at 1/2, 1, 2, 4, 12 and 24 hours after initiation of magnesium infusion were 4.8 +/- 0.4, 4.7 +/- 0.4, 4.5 +/- 0.3, 4.7 +/- 0.3, 5.4 +/- 0.3 and 5.9 +/- 0.3 mg/dl respectively. After delivery the levels were measured immediately, 12, and 24 hours and found to be 4.7 +/- 0.4, 4.9 +/- 0.4, and 5.2 +/- 0.3 mg/dl respectively. The serum magnesium levels were also varied with maternal weight, the dose regimen used in our study is appropriate for Asian pregnant women whose body weight usually less than 70 kg.

The prediction of preeclampsia by the urinary calcium/creatinine ratio during the early third trimester was assessed in 190 primigravidas, aged less than 35 years and between 28 and 32 weeks' gestation without pregnancy complications. Preeclampsia developed in 6.8% of the patients. The mean maternal age, gestational age at entry into the study and at delivery, and the average mean arterial blood pressure at entry into the study did not differ significantly between the 13 patients with subsequent preeclampsia and the 177 normotensive patients. The patients with preeclampsia did not have significantly less excretion of calcium than the normotensives.