Studies on lipoperoxide of normal pregnant women and of patients with toxemia of pregnancy.

1. Serum lipoperoxide was determined by the method of Yagi et al. (Yagi, K., Nishigaki, I. and Ohama, H. (1968) Jap. J. Vitamin 37, 105) for 22 cases of non-pregnant women, 24 cases of 1st trimester of pregnancy (1-12 weeks), 39 cases of 2nd trimester of pregnancy (13-26 weeks), 58 cases of 3rd trimester of pregnancy (27-40 weeks), and 30 cases of toxemia of pregnancy (27-40 weeks). Remarkable increases of lipoperoxide were observed at 2nd and 3rd trimester of pregnancy compared with non-pregnant women, and the increase in toxemia of pregnancy was more remarkable than that at 3rd trimester of pregnancy. In umbilical cord blood a higher level of lipoperoxide was observed in patients with toxemia of pregnancy than in normal pregnant women. 2. The total TBA value determined by extracting the serum-lipids with chloroform and methanol solution showed a similar tendency to the above. 3. Those showing TBA-reaction by the analysis of lipids with thin-layer chromatography were the fractions of cholesterol ester, triglyceride and phospholipid. While triglyceride fraction showed a marked increase of TBA value during pregnancy and in toxemia of pregnancy.