Reduced umbilical artery prostacyclin formation in complicated pregnancies.

Prostacyclin synthesis is severely depressed in the umbilical arteries of neonates of mothers with gestational diabetes mellitus, juvenile-onset diabetes mellitus, or preeclamptic symptoms, and of mothers who smoke during pregnancy and diabetic mothers who smoke. The reduced production of prostacyclin might be responsible for an increased abortion rate and a higher rate of intrauterine fetal death because of a decrease in placental perfusion and umbilical blood flow.