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Measurement of Individual Plasma Angiotensins in Normal Pregnancy and Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension^*

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Leuven U.Z. Gasthuisberg, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
The Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproduction, Leiden University Rijnsburgerweg 10, 2333 AA Leiden, The Netherlands

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. M. Hanssens, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, U.Z. Gasthuisberg, Herestraat 49, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium.

Individual angiotensin peptides were measured by a high pressure liquid chromatography-RIA (HPLC-RIA) technique in the plasma of 20 nonpregnant women, 17 women with normal pregnancy, and 49 with pregnancy-induced hypertension. Immunoreactive angiotensin-II (ANG-II) consisted mainly of ANG-(l–8) octapeptide (>65%), variable proportions (15-25%) of ANG-(4–8) pentapeptide, and small to negligible proportions of ANG-(2–8) heptapeptide and ANG-(3–8) hexapeptide. Levels of ANG-(l–8) were significantly higher in women with normal pregnancy than in both nonpregnant women (P < 0.0006) and women with pregnancy-induced hypertension (P < 0.008); in the latter, levels were lower with increasing severity of disease. Levels of ANG-(4–8) were higher in women with normal pregnancy than in women with pregnancy-induced hypertension or nonpregnant women. When expressed as a proportion of ANG-(l–8) levels, however, ANG-(4–8) levels were not higher in normal pregnancy than in women with pregnancyinduced hypertension or nonpregnant women. It is concluded that the well known increase in ANG-II levels in normal pregnancy relates predominantly to the active ANG-(l–8) octapeptide and to a far lesser extent to the smaller ANG peptides. Similarly, lower ANG-II levels in pregnancy-induced hypertension relate predominantly to lower ANG-(1–8) levels.

^* This work was supported by FWGO (Grant 3.0069.85), KULResearch Foundation (OT 85/54), and the Queen Elisabeth Foundation, Brussels.

Received October 5, 1990.

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