The hypotensive effect of calcium supplementation during normal pregnancy in Andean women is not related to vascular production of prostacyclin by umbilical arteries

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Abstract
Calcium supplementation during pregnancy attenuates maternal blood pressure and reduces the risk of pregnancy hypertension in Andean women with low calcium intake. Calcium supplementation might result in an increase in the vascular production of prostacyclin, and this might be responsible for the hypotensive effect of calcium supplementation. We measured the release of prostacyclin from umbilical arteries in two groups of nulliparous women:- 14 supplemented with 2 g elemental calcium daily from 20 weeks pregnant to delivery, and 11 assigned to placebo starch tablets. The levels of 6-keto-prostaglandin F1α were similar in both groups. However, the calcium supplemented group had a mean blood pressure (106 ± 8/70 ± 8 mmHg; s.d.), lower (P<0.05) than the placebo group (112 ± 10/74 ± 6 mmHg). Although these data confirm that calcium supplementation attenuates maternal blood pressure in normal pregnancy in these women, the hypotensive effect is unlikely to be mediated by an increased vascular production of prostacyclin.