title: Prolactin response to thyrotropin-releasing hormone in normal and complicated late pregnancies.
abstract: Maternal serum prolactin level (PRL) was determined with radioimmunoassay in normal and complicated late pregnancy. The mean basal PRL levels were not statistically different among normal (179.3 ng/ml), preeclamptic (169.7 ng/ml), hypertensive (171.4 ng/ml), twin (194.8 ng/ml), or diabetic pregnancies (134.4 ng/ml), although 3 of 17 diabetic women had abnormally low PRL levels. The PRL response to 200 micrograms of intravenously administered thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) was investigated and found similar in normal, preeclamptic, hypertensive, and twin pregnancies. There was no response to TRH in 2 of 3 diabetics with a low basal PRL level. One of these diabetic patients experienced an unexplained intrauterine death 4 weeks later; the others delivered term infants, 1 of whom died of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). These preliminary results suggest that low basal PRL levels and unresponsiveness to TRH may be related to a poor fetal or neonatal prognosis in diabetic pregnancies.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000097:blood; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000097:blood*; D011249:Pregnancy Complications, Cardiovascular / Q000097:blood; D011254:Pregnancy in Diabetics / Q000097:blood; D011272:Pregnancy, Multiple; D011388:Prolactin / Q000097:blood*; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D013973:Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone; D014427:Twins
chemical_list: D013973:Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone; D011388:Prolactin