Summary
An increase in plasma plasminogen activator inhibitors (PAIs), fundamentally PAI type
2 (PAI-2), has been described in normal pregnancy probably because the placenta is
the main source of the high plasma levels of this protein. Although we have previously
described plasmatic alterations of these inhibitors in pregnancies complicated with
intrauterine fetal growth retardation (IUGR), no reports have been published about
placental PAI-2 mRNA expression. In the present study, the placental PAI-2 expression
determined in pregnancies complicated with IUGR and in severe preeclamptic patients
was compared with that of normal pregnancies in order to identify the placental cell
types expressing PAI-2 and to determine whether the production of PAI-2 is altered
in placentas from IUGR. In situ hybridization analyses show that the syncytiotrophoblasts
are the cells with the greatest PAI-2 expression in placenta. We report that the significant
decrease in plasma and placental PAI-2 levels in IUGR groups is fundamentally due
to a diminished expression of PAI-2 mRNA in placenta.