Abstract
An increase in Ep synthesis is initiated by hypoxemia in adult and fetal animals. Elevated Ep levels have been found in umbilical plasma (Umb) in high-risk pregnancies. Since Ep is excreted into AF, we measured AF Ep in high-risk pregnancies during.the last trimester as well as at delivery by cesarean section, and compared AF Ep with Umb Ep values. Ep was analyzed by RIA in 37 insulin-treated diabetics, 39 hypertensives including 31 pre-eclamptics, 7 with other complicating diseases, and 16 controls.
The correlation between in-transformed AF and Umb Ep was highly significant in diabetics (r=0.80, p<0.001) and hypertensives (r=0.74, p<0.001) as well as in the total group (N = 61; r = 0.77, p<0.001). In contrast, there was less significant correlation (r=0.39, p<0.05) between AF obtained at induction and Umb obtained after 148-1184 minutes of labor (30 patients). In serial AF samples, 21 of 39 hypertensives and 9 of 37 diabetics had AF Ep values above control range. We conclude that in the absence of labor, AF Ep reflects fetal plasma Ep. We speculate that AF Ep may be an antepartum indicator of fetal hypoxemia.
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Teramo, K., Widness, J., Demons, G. et al. 320 AMNIOTIC FLUID (AF) ERYTHROPOIETIN (EP) IN HIGH-RISK PREGNANCIES. Pediatr Res 19, 164 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198504000-00350
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198504000-00350