Increased sensitivity to thromboplastin synthesis in blood monocytes from pre-eclamptic patients.

The thromboplastin activity in blood monocytes was investigated in third-trimester pregnancies comprising 11 patients with severe pre-eclampsia, 10 with essential hypertension and 18 normal pregnancies. Thromboplastin activity in unstimulated monocytes from the severe pre-eclamptic group was on average three times that found in the normal pregnant group, but variation was wide and the differences were not statistically significant. Thromboplastin activity in endotoxin-stimulated monocytes was significantly higher in the severe pre-eclamptic group than in the other two groups (normal and chronic hypertensive). In the severe pre-eclamptic group, there was a significant negative linear correlation between thromboplastin activity of the endotoxin-stimulated monocytes and factor VII. Fibrinogen, factor VII and alpha 2-antiplasmin were significantly lower in the severe pre-eclamptic group than in the normal pregnant group, whereas no differences were observed in factors V, VIII, AT-III and prekallikrein.