Role of Ureaplasma urealyticum in altering the endothelial metal concentration during preeclampsia

This work is the first step in the identification of metals pertinent to mollicute infection and lays the foundation for future studies concentrating on characterization of these metal associated or containing molecules. The ionic imbalance observed infers that calcium and iron supplementation should be executed with caution both during preeclampsia and U. urealyticum infection in pregnancy. This study also suggests that the HSP70 mediated protection exhibited in endothelial cell during preeclampsia is lost upon U. urealyticum infection which further contributes to the observed endothelial cell damage.