Figure 1.
NO2, NOHb and ADMA levels in umbilical blood from pregnancies with normal or restricted fetal growth.
Umbilical vein and artery levels of NO2 (A, B), NOHb (C, D) and ADMA (E, F) at different BW centiles: 75th–25th (black circles); <25th–10th (black and white circles); <10th–3rd (white circles); <3rd (white squares). Dashed line presents the exponential or linear relationship between these variable and BW. *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001.
Figure 2.
NO2, NOHb and ADMA levels in umbilical blood from pregnancies with symmetric or asymmetric fetal growth restriction.
Umbilical vein and artery levels of NO2 (A), NOHb (B) and ADMA (C) in pregnancies with fetuses below 10th centile BW. Vertical dashed line separates groups with asymmetric (PInd <2) and symmetric (PInd >2) growth restriction. *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001 for <2 vs. >2 PInd groups.
Figure 3.
eNOS protein and activity in HUVEC from pregnancies with normal or restricted fetal growth.
eNOS protein and activity, and NO2 content of incubate for HUVEC collected at different BW centiles (A, B). Values at (C) apply to different PInd grades within the 10th centile BW group. *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001 vs. 75th–25th centile (A, B) or 2.68–2.74 PInd (C).
Figure 4.
Prenatal umbilical artery Doppler velocimetry vs. NO function in fetuses with normal or restricted growth.
Blood levels of NO2 (A), NOHb (B), and ADMA (C) for umbilical vein and artery with normal (N) vs. abnormal (Abn) Doppler velocimetry in term (T) or preterm (PT) pregnancies. Note that number of patients is low for certain groups (n = 1 or 2; see columns without SD bar), while n = 3–18 for the remainder. HUVEC from pregnancies with normal vs. abnormal Doppler: eNOS activity with attendant NO2 formation (D) (n = 3–4) and eNOS protein expression (E) (n = 2). *p<0.05; **p<0.01 vs. normal Doppler.
Figure 5.
NO2 and NOHb levels in umbilical blood from twins with discordant intrauterine growth.
NO2 (A, B) and NOHb (C, D) in umbilical vein and artery blood. NT: twin with normal growth; ST: twin with restricted growth. Note that points for each set of twins are connected by a line. *p<0.05; **p<0.01 vs. normal twin.
Figure 6.
Time-related change in peripheral blood levels of NO2 and NOHb in AGA and SGA newborns.
Blood levels of NO2 (A, C) and NOHb (B, D) in relation to BW centile (A, B) and prenatal Doppler finding (C, D) at different time intervals after birth. BW centile: 75th–25th (black circles); <25th–10th (black and white circles); <10th–3rd (white circles); <3rd (white squares). Doppler finding for term (T) and preterm (PT) pregnancy: normal (white circles) and abnormal (black circles) with each point representing a single patient. *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001 for 24- and 72- h intervals relative to time zero. Note that, in the aggregate, NO2 and NOHb values for 75th–25th centile are significantly different from the other groups (p<0.001) at the 24- and 72-h time intervals, the only exception being the NOHb value for the <3rd centile at the 72-h mark (p = 0.068).
Figure 7.
Gene profile in HUVEC from SGA vs. AGA pregnancies.
Comparison of gene expression at 75th-25th (black squares) vs. <3rd (white squares) BW centile. Figure reports transcripts being affected by fetal growth restriction that relate to hemodynamic control (A), angiogenesis (B), extracellular matrix turnover (C) and inflammatory/adhesion process (D). Values are expressed as the intensity ratio between test and reference genes (for details, see Methods). Note that the total gene cohort under examination is given in Table S4. *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001 for <3rd vs. 75th–25th BW centile.