These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Progesterone, cortisol and oestradiol-17 beta in the initiation of human parturition: partitioning between free and bound hormone in plasma.
    Author: Willcox DL, Yovich JL, McColm SC, Phillips JM.
    Journal: Br J Obstet Gynaecol; 1985 Jan; 92(1):65-71. PubMed ID: 3966993.
    Abstract:
    The concentrations of total and free progesterone, oestradiol-17 beta, and cortisol were measured in the plasma of 24 pregnant women from 10-17 days prepartum, during labour, and for 2-3 days postpartum. All the women were delivered vaginally, and their hormonal profiles were similar, whether they initiated labour spontaneously (n = 11) or were induced by rupture of the fetal membranes (n = 13). Before labour, the plasma concentrations of total radioimmunoassayable progesterone, oestradiol-17 beta and cortisol were 557.3 (SEM 70.3) nmol/l and 590.0 (SEM 76.7) nmol/l, 94.3 (SEM 18.7) nmol/l and 111.6 (SEM 19.8) nmol/l, and 1087.2 (SEM 103.7) nmol/l and 1020.7 (SEM 100.7) nmol/l, for the spontaneous and induced groups, respectively. During labour progesterone and oestradiol-17 beta declined in maternal plasma to around 130 nmol/l and 30 nmol/l in both groups by the end of the third stage. The free fractions of progesterone and oestradiol-17 beta remained constant throughout labour and over the entire study period at 2-3% and 1-2%, respectively. Total plasma cortisol rose to 1243.7 (SEM 83.3) nmol/l (P less than 0.02, spontaneous group) and 1247.5 (SEM 97.4) nmol/l (P less than 0.001, induced group) by the end of the first stage of labour. Concomitantly, free cortisol increased from 4.5-5.5% to 7.2-8.2% over this period so that its concentration increased by approximately 2.5-fold in both groups of women during labour. We conclude that the total and physiologically-active free concentrations of progesterone and oestradiol-17 beta in maternal plasma do not change immediately before the onset of labour.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]