Hofbauer hücrelerinin plasental vaskülatüre etkisi

Early fetal loss due to spontaneos abortions is the most common complication of pregnancy. Possible causes include congenital anomalies of the zygote, maternal problems, chromosomal abnormalities, immunological disorders and defective vasculogenesis. Hofbauer cells (HH) are the placental macrophages playing roles on many important placental events. The aim of this retrospective study is investigate the role of HH in early fetal losses .The slides obtained from archieval blocks of missed abortion (MA, n = 15) and blighted ovum (BO, n =15) cases and unwanted pregnancies materials (control group, n = 15) were stained by immunuhistochemical metods using CD68 and CD31 antibody to label HH and endotelial cells, respectively. Hofbauer cells were counted under light microscope. Vasculogenesis was evaluated using two methods: Chalkey method and microvessel scoring.The mean number of vilous Hofbauer cells was found to be significantly higher in both BO and MA in contrast to the control group ( p = 0.005 and p<<0.001, respectively) . However it was not significantly different between BO and MA (P = 0.04). Chalkey method revealed no statisticaly significant difference in the control group in comparison with MA and BO in (P=0.29, P=0.09, respectively). Higher microvessel scorring were found in MA in contrast to BO and the control group ( p=0.003 and p=0.003, respectively). However, there was no difference between the control group and BO ( p=0.54).We think that HH may be of biological importance in early fetal losses and play a role on defective vasculature formation in MA. We speculate that this role may result from a hypoxic insult. We also speculate that HH may play a role in the pathogenesis of BO resulting from their other effects on cellular transport, immunity and inflamation.Key words: angiogenesis, blighted ovum, Hofbauer cells, missed abortion, placenta, vasculogenesis