Vision Research and Brain Affects

  So as you already know, part of the diagnosis of Preeclampsia is protein found in the urine. It is also found in the placenta and blood levels. A Stanford University professor, Dr. Nihar R. Nayak and his team are doing research to better understand the role of certain placental proteins in the development of Preeclampsia.  His 2011 Vision Grant Research Project main goal is to find how proteins act in the placenta during Preeclampsia and used a mouse model system while testing various therapeutic approaches to Preeclampsia. His team also developed a way to study how genes act in the placentas of mice. Genes play an important role in placental development during pregnancy. Their hope is that with these new discoveries that this will be a better way to see and identify abnormal genes which will in return, help researchers learn about why protein levels tend to be higher in a Preeclampsia pregnancy than a normal pregnancy.

A protein called sFlt-1 is found in the blood at a higher level when a woman has preeclampsia. Understanding this protein will have a direct impact on the design of  clinical therapies for Preeclampsia. They are testing this on the mice by completely removing the sFlt-1 protein from the placenta by telling it to not make this protein at all. Another protein called VEGF also acts in higher levels during a preeclamptic pregnancy.

The study should be concluded at the end of the year and sent off for publication.

Next time I'll discuss National preeclampsia month and can preeclampsia affect the mother's brain too?







Works Cited:

Administrator. "Vision Grant Researcher Reports Successful Methodology to Study Placental Proteins." Vision Grant Researcher Reports Successful Methodology to Study Placental Proteins. Preeclampsia Foundation, 30 Sept. 2012. Web. 11 Nov. 2012. <http://www.preeclampsia.org/component/lyftenbloggie/2012/09/30/152-vision-grant-researcher-reports-successful-methodology-to-study-placental-proteins>.