Study of the molecular variation in pre-eclampsia placenta based on micro-Raman spectroscopy

PURPOSE: Study of the molecular variation in pre-eclampsia placenta based on micro-Raman spectroscopy. METHODS: Five pregnant women with pre-eclampsia from Nanfang hospital were selected as study group whose average age is 28.5 years and 38 ± 2 weeks gestation. The same period of healthy pregnant women, whose average age is 27.6 years and pregnant 39 ± 1 weeks, as control group (n = 5). The normal and pre-eclamptic placental tissues are detected by micro-Raman spectroscopy with the spectrum resolution of 1 cm(−1). RESULTS: We find that the protein structure of α-helix, β-pleated sheet and β-turn is overlying in pre-eclamptic placenta, which lead to a disorder of protein structure. The Raman peaks assigned to tryptophan indole ring and phenylalanine in pre-eclamptic placental tissue are more higher than that in normal tissue. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that the ordered structures of the main chain in protein molecules are reduced significantly, and the amino acid of side chains is damaged obviously. And a principal component analysis is used to classify the Raman spectra between normal and pre-eclamptic placental tissues. This study presents that Raman spectroscopy has a great potential on the mechanism research and diagnosis of placental lesions.