The nucleotide degrading enzymes, ectonucleotidases, present on the platelet surface of human pregnant with a normal (without
complications) or high risk for thrombosis (hypertension and gestational diabetes) were studied. NTPDase (E.C. 3.6.1.5, CD39)
and 5′-nucleotidase (E.C. 3.1.3.5, CD73) activities of four patient groups, non-pregnant (NP,
n = 18), pregnant without complications (P,
n = 25), pregnant with hypertension (HP,
n = 15) and pregnant with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDP,
n = 10), were analyzed. Increased NTPDase activities were observed in the groups P (37.0%, S.D. = 2.03 and 34.0%, S.D. = 3.19),
HP (40.0%, S.D. = 3.32 and 56.0%, S.D. = 3.25) and GDP (23.0%, S.D. = 2.30 and 42.0%, S.D. = 2.26) in comparison to the control
group NP (
p < 0.01, S.D. = 1.92 and S.D. = 2.48) when ATP and ADP were used as substrate, respectively. AMP was used as substrate to
determine the 5′-nucleotidase activities, which showed to be elevated in the groups P (45.0%, S.D. = 1.73), HP (54.0%, S.D. = 2.64)
and GDP (68.0%, S.D. = 1.69) when compared to the control group NP (
p < 0.01, S.D. = 1.26). However, no statistically significant differences were observed between the groups P, HP and GDP. As
a consequence, the enhanced ATP, ADP and AMP hydrolysis was ascribed to the pregnancy itself, independent of a normal or high
risk for thrombosis. The enhanced NTPDase and 5′-nucleotidase activities in platelets suggest that these enzymes are involved
in the thromboregulation process in the pregnancy.