RNA microarray analysis of human placenta in normal pregnancy and preeclampsia

To investigate the differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs in human placenta between normal pregnancy and preeclampsia, we performed the human LncRNA microarray analysis of 8 samples from clinical patients. Thirty preeclampsia patients (mean age of 33.20±0.46 years) and thirty control patients (mean age of 32.60±0.47 years) who received a caesarean section were included in this study. Preeclampsia was clinically diagnosed before caesarean. The main criteria for PE diagnosis were: SBP ≥ 140 or DBP ≥ 90 on two occasions at least 4 h apart; and proteinuria >0.3 g/24h. The control pregnancy was defined as: no medical complications and proteinuria, maternal blood pressure < 140/90 mm Hg. Of the thirty pairs of placenta samples, four pairs were randomly selected for lncRNA and mRNA microarray analysis, and the other samples were used for the following verification.