Lactate
Dehydrogenase Activity in Human Placenta
Following Exposure to Environmental Pollutants
A.
KAIGLOVÁ, E. REICHRTOVÁ, A. ADAMÈÁKOVÁ, L.
WSÓLOVÁ
Institute
of Preventive and Clinical Medicine, Bratislava,
Slovak Republic
Received
November 16, 2000
Accepted February 20, 2001
Summary
The
impact of environmental pollution at the place of
residence of pregnant women and of their smoking
habits on the cellular energy metabolism of
placental tissue was investigated. Samples of
full-term placentas were randomly collected from
two environmentally different regions of Slovakia
(Bratislava, Stará ¼ubovòa) and the activity
of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) was measured. Our
results showed enhanced LDH activity in the
placenta that was dependent on both the type of
environmental pollutants at the place of
residence and the smoking habits during
pregnancy. The enhanced LDH activity may reflect
hypoxic conditions due to the accumulation of
heavy metals and toxic compounds of tobacco smoke
in the placental tissue. A high content of heavy
metal particles, found in placental samples from
Stará ¼ubovòa in our previous studies, might
contribute to the increased LDH activity in
placentas from this region. We hypothesize that
fine metal particles deposited in the placental
tissue might be phagocytozed by the
syncytiotrophoblast, thus contributing to the
decreased oxygen level in placental tissue.
.
Key
words
Human
placenta · Lactate dehydrogenase ·
Environmental pollutants
Reprint
requests
MVDr.
Alžbeta Kaiglová, Ph.D., Institute of
Preventive and Clinical Medicine, Limbová 14,
833 01 Bratislava, SR,
e-mail: kaigl@upkm.sk
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