Elemental analysis of serum and hair from pre-eclamptic South African women

Pre-eclampsia is a hypertensive disorder that is associated with adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes. It has been proposed that specific trace and macro elements associated with antioxidant activities may also play a contributory role in aetiology of pre-eclampsia. The aim of this study was to measure the concentrations of thirteen different elements in hair and serum samples from women with a diagnosis of pre-eclampsia and compare them with normotensive controls. Venous blood and pubic hair samples were collected from forty-three pre-eclamptic and twenty-three normotensive pregnant women. In each sample, the concentration of arsenic (As); calcium (Ca); cadmium (Cd); chromium (Cr); cobalt (Co); magnesium (Mg); manganese (Mn); iron (Fe); copper (Cu); lead (Pb); selenium (Se); nickel (Ni); zinc (Zn) were measured using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry. Cobalt concentration in hair was significantly lower in the pre-eclampsia group (1.56 ± 0.74 μg/g) compared to the normotensive group (2.89 ± 4.99 μg/g) (p = 0.02). The concentrations of Zn and Cr were significantly higher in hair samples from the pre-eclamptic group, compared to the normotensive control group (Zn, 395.99 ± 48.60 vs 330.88 ± 29.70 μg/g; Cr, 13.31 ± 2.67 vs 11.05 ± 7.62 μg/g: p ≤ 0.05). There were no significant differences in the hair levels of other elements between groups. Serum Zn was significantly higher in the pre-eclamptic group (0.16-253.4 mg/L) compared to the normotensive group (0.2-48.4 mg/L) (p = 0.01). Serum Ca, Co, Cu, Mg, Mn and Se levels were found to be significantly lower in the pre-eclamptic group compared to the normotensive group (p < 0.05). This study confirms the association between pre-eclampsia and maternal trace as well as macro element levels.