The concentrations of osteocalcin and degradation products of type I collagen in pregnant women with pre-eclampsia Mieczyslaw Gorzelak a , Dorota Darmochwal-Kolarz c,* , Miroslaw Jablonski a , Jacek Rolinski c , Bozena Leszczynska-Gorzelak b , Krzysztof Modrzewski a , Jan Oleszczuk b a Department of Orthopedics, University School of Medicine, Jaczewskigo 8, 20-950 Lublin, Poland b Department of Obstetrics and Perinatology, University School of Medicine, Jaczewskigo 8, 20-950 Lublin, Poland c Department of Clinical Immunology, University School of Medicine, Jaczewskiego 8, 20-950 Lublin, Poland Received 22 November 2000; received in revised form 1 February 2001; accepted 12 February 2001 Abstract Objectives: To investigate the concentrations of osteocalcin and collagen type I C-terminal telopeptides in pregnant women with pre- eclampsia. Study design: 26 patients with severe pre-eclampsia and 24 healthy pregnant women were included in the study. Serum concentrations of osteocalcin and C-telopeptides Ð degradation products of type I collagen were determined using the ELISA method. Statistical analysis was performed using Mann±Whitney U-test. Results: In pre-eclamptic patients, the concentrations of osteocalcin and degradation products of collagen type I were signi®cantly higher P < 0:005) when compared to healthy pregnant women. Conclusion: These results could suggest that there are alterations in bone metabolism in pregnant women with pre-eclampsia. # 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Collagen type I C-terminal telopeptides; Osteocalcin; Pre-eclampsia; Pregnancy 1. Introduction Pre-eclampsia is a common obstetric syndrome affecting about 7±10% of pregnant women. Symptoms of this syn- drome appear during the second and third trimester of pregnancy. It has been shown that pre-eclamptic women have reduced urinary calcium excretion and plasma ionized calcium, with elevated plasma parathormone concentrations [1±3,5]. These ®ndings are more common than in other forms of hypertension in pregnancy. The observation that hypocalciuria accompanied pre-eclampsia heightened inter- est in the role of this cation and calciotropic hormones in the development of this disorder. Many studies have shown that calcium supplementation reduces the risk of pre-eclampsia [4]. They have stimulated further research in this area. The relationship between parathyroid hormone-calcitriol axis and the development of hypertension in pregnancy has been the subject of several experimental and observational studies [1±3,7±15]. Several authors reported increased parathyroid hormone concentrations at the time of pre-eclampsia, as well as several weeks prior to the onset of PIH or pre-eclampsia and they suggest that the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia may be related to the function of parathyroid [6,7,9,10]. In contrast, some investigations showed lower serum parathor- mone concentrations in comparison with normotensive preg- nant women and they suggest that the mechanism of hypocalciuria in pre-eclampsia is independent of the PTH-calcitriol axis and that the hypocalciuria in pre- eclampsia is due to intrinsic renal tubular dysfunction [8]. Thepurposeofourstudywastoestimatesomeparameters of bone metabolism in patients with pre-eclampsia. We have measured concentrations of osteocalcin and degradation products of type I collagen Ð collagen type I C-terminal telopeptides in pre-eclamptic patients and healthy pregnant women. 2. Materials and methods The patients participating in this study were recruited from thosewhowereadmittedtotheDepartmentof Obstetrics and European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology 98 2001) 23±27 * Corresponding author. Tel.: 48-81-742-50-26; fax: 48-81-746-70-10. E-mail address: dorotak@mp.pl D. Darmochwal-Kolarz). 0301-2115/01/$ ± see front matter # 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. PII:S0301-211501)00319-0