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Serum Complement Activity in Pre‐Term Pregnancies: Relationship to Duration of Ruptured Membranes and Clinical Infection
Author(s) -
LEVY DONALD L.,
COX ADRIENNE,
LEFFELL MARY SUE,
WILDS PRESTON LEA
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
american journal of reproductive immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1600-0897
pISSN - 0271-7352
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0897.1982.tb00155.x
Subject(s) - complement system , medicine , complement (music) , cord blood , immunology , cord , physiology , antibody , biology , surgery , biochemistry , complementation , gene , phenotype
Physiologic changes occurring during the latent period of prematurely ruptured membranes (PRM) are poorly understood. Indicators predicting maternal and neonatal infectious morbidity do not correlate well with clinical outcomes. A previous report suggested that in vivo complement consumption occurred in response to the event of membrane rupture. In this prospective study, complement activity was measured serially throughout the latent period in cases of preterm PRM. In addition to total hemolytic complement activity (CH 50 ), C3‐proactivator (C3PA), a primary component of the alternate complement pathway, was measured in maternal and cord sera. As with CH 50 , cord serum C3PA levels are significantly less than those in matched maternal samples. Neither maternal nor cord serum complement activity correlated with either the duration of the latent period or maternal‐neonatal infection.