Comparative study of oxidative stress in maternal blood with that of cord blood and maternal milk.

Objective: Oxidative stress has been implicated in pregnancy-induced hypertension and preeclampsia. There is still some debate over whether this is confined to the placenta or occurs in the maternal circulation. This study was designed to investigate this question by comparing parameters of oxidative stress in samples of maternal blood and cord blood taken from normotensive and hypertensive pregnant women.