Placental vascular remodeling in pregnant women with COVID-19

• Published in: PloS one 2022-07, Vol.17 (7), p.e0268591-e0268591
• Main Authors: Gychka, Sergiy G, Brelidze, Tinatin I, Kuchyn, Iurii L, Savchuk, Tetyana V, Nikolaienko, Sofia I, Zhezhera, Volodymyr M, Chermak, Ihor I, Suzuki, Yuichiro J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ACE2; Actin; Analysis; Angiotensin; Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2; Arteries; Biology and Life Sciences; Cell growth; Childbirth & labor; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Disease; Female; Fetuses; Fibrosis; Health aspects; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Infant, Newborn; Infections; Medicine and Health Sciences; Morphometry; Mortality; Mothers; Muscles; Neonates; Newborn babies; Occlusion; Pandemics; Peptidyl-dipeptidase A; Placenta; Potassium channels (voltage-gated); Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious; Pregnant Women; Research and Analysis Methods; Respiratory diseases; Respiratory distress syndrome; RNA; SARS-CoV-2; Severe acute respiratory syndrome; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Smooth muscle; Thickening; Values; Vascular Remodeling; Veins & arteries; Viral diseases; Viruses; Womens health
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0268591

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has been causing the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that has so far resulted in over 450 million infections and six million deaths. This respiratory virus uses angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 as a receptor to enter host cells and affects various tissues in addition to the lungs. The present study reports that the placental arteries of women who gave birth to live full-term newborns while developing COVID-19 during pregnancy exhibit severe vascular wall thickening and the occlusion of the vascular lumen. A morphometric analysis of the placental arteries stained with hematoxylin and eosin suggests a 2-fold increase in wall thickness and a 5-fold decrease in the lumen area. Placental vascular remodeling was found to occur in all of SARS-CoV-2-positive mothers as defined by RT-PCR. Immunohistochemistry with α-smooth muscle actin and the Kv11.1 channel as well as Masson's trichrome staining showed that such placental vascular remodeling in COVID-19 is associated with smooth muscle proliferation and fibrosis. Placental vascular remodeling may represent a response mechanism to the clinical problems associated with childbirth in COVID-19 patients.