Biomolecular Processes in the Initiation of Parturition: Dec... : Clinical Obstetrics and
Gynecology Biomolecular Processes in the Initiation of Parturition: Decidual Activation : Clinical�…

Humans are one of the few mammalian viviparous species in which pregnancy is extended
beyond the luteal phase, the phase during which progesterone is synthesized by the�…

After accommodating the pregnancy for an average of 40 weeks, the uterus expels the fetus,
the placenta and the membranes through the birth canal in a process named parturition. The�…

Decidualization is characterized by a series of genetic, metabolic, morphological,
biochemical, vascular and immune changes occurring in the endometrial stroma in�…

Human parturition is associated with profound changes in uterine connective tissue affecting
mainly the cervix, but the endocrine control of cervical ripening remains obscure. Connective�…

Labor is the physiologic process by which the products of conception are passed from the
uterus to the outside world, and it is common to all viviparous species. The timely onset of�…

Prostaglandins produced by the intrauterine tissues of both mother and fetus (myometrium,
decidua, placenta, chorion, and amnion) are involved with all of the physiologies of�…

The accumulation of bioactive agents (characteristic of an inflammatory-type response) in
amniotic fluid is common during term and preterm labor, viz., interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta)�…

To allege that the biomolecular phenomena that bring about the initiation of parturition in
women at term are incompletely defined is to understate se verely the depth of our�…

We hypothesized that the priming and activation of maternal leukocytes in peripheral blood
is a key component of parturition, and that inappropriate preterm priming of leukocytes might�…