Test and Treatment for Preeclampsia

A team at Texas A&M university developed a way to predict and prevent preeclampsia. Preeclampsia is a pregnancy induced high blood pressure. It is life threatening for the mother and the fetus and is the most common cause of maternal and fetal death in developing countries.

The team researched and tested on rats to find that a compound known as marinobufagenin (MBG) can be found in preeclamptic rats just days into pregnancy. Further research led to the notion that MBG is  predetermining factor of later onset of preeclampsia and a cause of it. A collaborative Texas A&M research team discovered that resibufogenin (RBG) works as a preventative for preeclampsia. RBG binds to MBG and acts as an antagonist for its effects. MBG and RBG have currently only been tested in rats, but the team is working on getting FDA approval for human trials.

This article is interesting to me because of the reproductive material we are currently studying. It also hits close to home because when my aunt was pregnant with her set of twins she suffered from preeclampsia. She had a hard time with it because of the bed rest that was required. With a job and other kids at homeit was extremely inconvenient and hard on their family. Having an easy test and treatment for the condition would have been a major stress off of their family. Such a simple treatment could also save a lot of lives in developing nations where preeclampsia takes it biggest toll on lives.

Resibufogenin (RBG)

Marinobufagenin (MBG)

http://vetmed.tamu.edu/news/press-releases/one-health-research-leads-to-test-and-treatment-for-preeclampsia/utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tamuNewsHeadlines+%28www.tamu.edu+News+Headlines%29