A Study Of Urinary Prostacyclin Levels In Pregnant Haemoglobin Ss And Aa Women In Lagos, Nigeria

📄 Project Abstract

It has been documented that pregnancy is associated with an increase in plasma volume in healthy pregnancy and to a less extent in pregnant sickle cell subjects. This Plasma volume expansion is due to vasodilatation among other mechanisms. Many factors are responsible for the vasodilatation among which is Prostacyclin believed to be secreted in larger amounts in pregnant subjects. In this study urinary prostacyclin (UP) levels, were determined in Pregnant Hb AA and Hb SS subjects, using non-pregnant Hb AA and non-pregnant Hb SS as controls. The urinary Prostacyclin was determined using competitive immunoassay, ELISA Urinary Prostacyclin kit. (Assay Deigns, Inc, 800 Technology drive Ann Arbor, MI 48108 USA). Prostacyclin has a half-life of 60 mins in plasma, and it is typically monitored by the measurement of 6-keto prostaglandin F2, which is produced by non enzymatic hydration of PGI2. All subjects were bled into EDTA specimen bottles, for full blood count determination including red c...