Plasma prostaglandins during the intravenous infusion of angiotensin II in pregnant women

The possible relation between prostaglandin production and the sensitivity of pregnant women with pregnancy-induced hypertension to the pressor effects of angiotensin II was investigated. Plasma prostaglandin levels were determined in four groups of women before, during, and after intravenous infusion of angiotensin II. Concentrations of the stable metabolites of prostaglandin E₂, prostaglandin F_2α, and prostaglandin I₂ (prostacyclin) were quantified by specific radioimmunoassays in the plasma of nonpregnant women, women pregnant in the late third trimester, and women pregnant in the late third trimester with either pregnancy-induced or chronic hypertension. Plasma prostaglandin concentrations did not change significantly during angiotensin II infusion in any of the four groups of women. Levels of the prostacyclin metabolite, however, were significantly higher in the hypertensive pregnant women than in the normotensive pregnant women.