Abstract
Background: Obesity become one of the most universal medical problem that affect women at reproductive periods. Aim: To highlight the placental changes in obese mothers and to determine their relation to the oxidative stress. Methods: This work is prospective case- control study which were examined placentas that were obtained from 60 singleton pregnant women who delivered at Al-Khanssa Maternity Teaching Hospital, Mosul, Northern of Iraq starting from January 2020 to March 2020. The women were classified into three groups: Group 1. Includes (control) women who has BMI ranged between 18-24.9 kg/m2 (N=20), Group2. (Overweight) includes women who has BMI ranged between25-29.9 kg/m2 (N=20), Group 3. (Obese group) includes women with BMI ≥30 kg/m2 (N=20).Two placental biopsies were obtained from maternal side and fetal side of each case and submitted for histological examination via light examination. In addition, Fresh placental specimens (0.5gm) to be taken from all study groups and to be frozen until the time of procedure for oxidative stress analysis. Results: The Histological sections of group 2 and 3 placental disc revealed that the placentas of these groups manifested different histological changes in comparison with those of group 1. These changes includes syncytial knotting , villous hypovascularity, villous fibrinoid necrosis, The thickening of trophoblastic basement membrane, Cytotrophoblastic hyperplasia , perivillous fibrin deposition ,increase in number of nucleated red blood cells (NRBC), Stromal fibrosis, Chorangiosis ,paucity of vasculosyncytial membrane VSM, villous edema, features of deciduitis, villitis, and increase the thickening of tunica media of the placental blood vessels. The biochemical analysis of the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) in the placental homogenates of the three study groups revealed a significant increase of its level in homogenates of group 2 and 3 in comparison with that in group 1 homogenates indicating the presence of the oxidative stress. Conclusion: this work revealed a marked increase in the level of MDA in placental homogenates of the obese and overweight groups in comparison with that of control group suggesting the role of the oxidative stress.
