Open AccessENDOGENOUS PROSTAGLANDINS AND SPONTANEOUS DELIVERY
Author(s) -
Wiqvist N.,
Bygdeman M.,
Gréen K.,
Lundström V.
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
acta obstetricia et gynecologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.401
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1600-0412
pISSN - 0001-6349
DOI - 10.3109/00016347509158699
Subject(s) - metabolite , endogeny , prostaglandin , endocrinology , medicine , amniotic fluid , contractility , prostaglandin f , pregnancy , fetus , biology , genetics
. The finding that exogenous prostaglandins have a potent and specific stimulatory action on uterine contractility in the human female as well as data suggesting increased concentrations of endogenous prostaglandins in amniotic fluid and blood serum during labor indicate that these compounds may play a role in human parturition. However, earlier results on blood levels of prostaglandin F 2 α remain controversial due to the possible formation of PGF 2 α by platelets and blood cells during isolation of the plasma and serum. It seems that measurement of one of the initial PGF 2 α metabolites 15‐keto‐13, 14‐dihydro‐PGF 2 α by gas chromatographic‐mass spectrometric technique offers a more reliable method for monitoring PGF 2 α synthesis. This metabolite is not formed during collection of blood and it can be expected to occur in considerably higher concentrations than the parent compound. During the last 6 weeks of pregnancy the concentration of 15‐keto‐13, 14‐dihydro‐PGF 2 α was low, varying around 25 pg/ml plasma. However, already in the beginning of spontaneous labor the values had increased by a factor of ten active phase of labor reaching levels around 500 pg/ml. The fact that labor can be postponed in monkeys by administration of the prostaglandin synthase inhibitor, indomethazine, lends further support to the view that PGF 2 α is involved in the mechanisms controlling the initiation and progress of spontaneous labor. Preliminary results also indicate that premature labor, under certain conditions, might be arrested by indomethazine.