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Serial oxytocin levels in amniotic fluid and maternal plasma during normal and induced labour
Author(s) -
PADAYACHI T.,
NORMAN R. J.,
DHAVARAJ K.,
KEMP M.,
JOUBERT S. M.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
bjog: an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.157
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1471-0528
pISSN - 1470-0328
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1988.tb06575.x
Subject(s) - oxytocin , amniotic fluid , medicine , radioimmunoassay , pregnancy , gestation , endocrinology , cervical dilatation , prostaglandin , obstetrics , fetus , biology , cervix , cancer , genetics
Summary. Oxytocin was measured by a specific and sensitive radio‐immunoassay in plasma and amniotic fluid after extraction with Sep‐Pak cartridges in patients undergoing elective caesarean sections, normal labour and labour induced with oxytocin infusion or prostaglandins. In maternal plasma, levels of oxytocin correlated with the period of gestation; concentrations at term were significantly higher than in the first two trimesters. Maternal plasma levels of oxytocin before the onset of contractions were not significantly different from those at the onset of spontaneous labour or at full cervical dilatation. Levels of oxytocin in patients induced with oxytocin were not statistically different from levels observed in spontaneous labour. Amniotic fluid oxytocin levels were not significantly different between the groups either at the onset of labour or immediately before delivery. Umbilical arterio‐venous differences in oxytocin were present in all groups except the prostaglandin‐induced group. Increased prostaglandins associated with the onset of normal labour are probably not a consequence of changes in oxytocin concentrations.