Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Normal pregnancy is a state of physiological oxidative stress (OS) with oxidants facilitating the implantation of the embryo and optimal decidualisation but counterbalanced by antioxidants. Pro-oxidant processes exceeding the anti-oxidants capacity result in imbalanced OS, which has been associated with the ‘’big four’’ obstetric complications: pre-term birth, intra-uterine growth retardation, pre-eclampsia and diabetes gravidarum. Important OS ...