Antidepressant Therapy for Improved Blood Vessel Health After Preeclampsia

Early Phase 1RecruitingNCT07715669

Anna Stanhewicz, PhD40 enrolled

Overview

Preeclampsia is a condition in pregnancy where a woman develops high blood pressure and other complications. Women who develop preeclampsia are 4 times more likely to have heart disease later in life. They are also more likely to have depression after pregnancy. Why they are more likely to develop these conditions is not known. It may be because their blood vessels were damaged during pregnancy. Changes in blood vessel health can predict heart disease. These changes have been recorded after pregnancy in women who had preeclampsia. These changes have also been recorded in women who have depression. In the previous phase of this award, we found that women who had preeclampsia in pregnancy had changes in blood vessel health after pregnancy. We also found that if these women were taking a medicine to treat depression, their blood vessel health was normal. This could mean that treatment for depression can also increase blood vessel health in women who had preeclampsia. In this project we will study how changes in blood vessel health are related to preeclampsia and depression in women who have had both. We will also study how medicine to treat depression can improve blood vessel health after preeclampsia. We will do this by measuring how blood vessels work in women who have had preeclampsia compared to women who did not, and in women who have depression and women who do not. This will tell us more about why risk for depression and heart disease is higher in women who have had preeclampsia. It will also help us understand if medicine for depression can reduce cardiovascular disease risk after preeclampsia.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Eligibility

Sex: FEMALEMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 45 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * 18-24 years old, * 12 weeks - 5 years post pregnancy * one of the following: * history of a normal pregnancy with a current diagnosis of depression, * history of a normal pregnancy without a current diagnosis of depression, * history of a preeclamptic pregnancy with a current diagnosis of depression * history of preeclamptic pregnancy without a current diagnosis of depression. Exclusion Criteria: * history of cardiovascular, metabolic, and/or skin diseases * current or history of tobacco/nicotine/ e-cigarette use * history of gestational diabetes * current antihypertensive or cholesterol-lowering medication * currently pregnant * allergy to materials used during the experiment (e.g. latex), * known allergy to study drugs * currently using SSRI medications

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Microvascular endothelium-dependent dilation response measured by laser-Doppler flowmetry

Cutaneous vascular conductance responses to local heating over a microdialysis fiber receiving treatments compared to lactated Ringer's solution (control).

Time frame: at the study visit, an average of 4 hours

Nitric oxide-dependent dilation response measured by laser-Doppler flowmetry

Difference in cutaneous vascular conductance between local heating plateau and post-L-NAME plateau within each treated microdialysis site compared to lactated Ringer's (control).