The changes of lipid metabolism and hemorrheology in intrahepatic cholestasis during pregnancy

OBJECTIVE: To identify the influence of the increased level of serum cholyglycine (CG) on lipid metabolism and hemorrheology in patients with intrahepatic cholestasis during pregnancy (ICP). METHODS: The concentrations of serum CG, total cholesterol (CH), triglycerides (TG), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), high shear and low shear of blood specific viscosity (HS and LS), plasma specific viscosity (PV) and hematocrit (HCT) were measured in 68 cases of primiparas with single pregnancy and 30 healthy nonpregnant women respectively. The group of ICP was composed of 35 cases with CG > 6 mumol/L, the group of normal pregnancy, 33 cases with CG < 6 mumol/L. RESULTS: The means of CG and the lipidic parameters in the two pregnant groups were significantly higher than those in the non-pregnancy group (P < 0.02-0.001) except the means of HDL-C between the groups of ICP and non-pregnancy. The levels of LDL-C, LDL-C/HDL-C, LS, PV and HCT in the ICP were significantly higher than those in the normal pregnancy group (P < 0.02-0.001). CONCLUSIONS: There are significant changes of lipid metabolism and hemorrheology in patients with ICP. However, these changes could be corrected after pregnancy termination, when the level of serum CG returned to normal. The results suggest that the pathophysiologic changes of ICP are associated with increased level of serum CG.