Placental tissue acquisition
The placenta tissues were obtained at Maternity and Child Health
Hospital of Pudong New District, Shanghai. Collections of tissues were
performed with the approval of Ethics Committee of Medical Research of
Maternity and Child Health Hospital of Pudong New District. Informed
consent was obtained from all patients.
There were 43 pregnant women with normotension at term (37-40weeks) and
43 women with PE (36-40 weeks) included in the present study. Human
subject data were summarized and indicated in Tab. S1. PE was defined as
pregnancy-induced hypertension (blood pressure ≥140/90 mmHg) and
proteinuria (≥0.3 g/24 h or ≥1 + according to a routine urinalysis) in
women who were normotensive before pregnancy and had no other underlying
clinical problems such as renal disease. Pregnant women with multiple
pregnancies, intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy and those with type
1, type 2 or gestational diabetes mellitus, a history of kidney disease,
or autoimmune disease were excluded. All of the placentas were collected
within 1 hour of cesarean birth, and six small pieces of tissues from
separate lobules were randomly taken in each placenta. The tissues were
washed with cold saline, immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen and then
stored at -80℃.