Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1987 May;64(5):1054-9.
doi: 10.1210/jcem-64-5-1054.

Plasma corticotropin-releasing hormone concentrations during pregnancy and parturition

E A Campbell, E A Linton, C D Wolfe, P R Scraggs, M T Jones, P J Lowry

Plasma corticotropin-releasing hormone concentrations during pregnancy and parturition

E A Campbell et al. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1987 May.

Abstract

Plasma CRH was measured in maternal plasma throughout the third trimester of pregnancy, during labor, and postpartum. CRH levels were also measured in arterial and venous umbilical cord plasma samples. In normal pregnant women, plasma CRH increased from 50 +/- 15 (+/- SEM) pg/mL at 28 weeks gestation (n = 41) to 1462 +/- 182 pg/mL at 40 weeks (n = 55) and 1680 +/- 101 pg/mL (n = 65) in labor. Women with pregnancy-induced hypertension (n = 49) had plasma CRH levels significantly elevated above this normal range. Similarly, women who subsequently went into premature labor had raised levels several weeks before the onset of labor. After delivery, plasma CRH returned to normal within 15 h. Total plasma cortisol levels varied little throughout the third trimester, but increased during labor and remained elevated 2-3 days postpartum. There was, therefore, no correlation between plasma cortisol and CRH, implying that this placental CRH is not primarily involved in the control of the maternal hypothalamo-pituitary adrenal axis during pregnancy. The concentrations of CRH in umbilical cord plasma samples were considerably lower than those in the maternal circulation and were close to those in normal nonpregnant adults.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

Substances