The effects of smoking on the placentas of smoker mothers in terms of MPO, MMP-9 and FGF

Abstract

Aim: Smoking during pregnancy remains a common habit. Pregnant smokers harm both themselves and their fetus. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to investigate oxidative stress and angiogenic effects of smoking on pregnant smokers by analyzing FGF, MMP-9, and MPO levels.

Material and Methods: The placentas of 68 pregnant women which referred to the pathology laboratory between the years 2010 and 2011 were included in the study. Of the total, 28 women were smokers (S) and 40 women were non-smokers (NS). The FGF, MMP-9, and MPO immunostaining of placental tissues were examined by manual microarray study. The number of cigarettes smoked, age, systemic disease rate, mean abortus number, blood pressure, hemoglobin and hematocrit, Apgar, and pathological parameters were also evaluated.

Results: Statistically significant positive relationships were found between S and NS groups in terms of MMP-9 staining (grade 1) (p=0.039). There was no MMP-9 staining in S group. Systemic diseases were more frequent in S than NS group (p=0.049). There was no statistically significant relationship between other parameters.

Discussion: The effects of smoking on the fetus have been demonstrated with MMP-9. More comprehensive studies are needed to reveal the relationship between fetus and smoking.