Human placental 17 beta-estradiol dehydrogenase: enzymatic activity in the last weeks of pregnancy and electrophoretic data.
A specific electrophoretic method for human placental 17 beta-estradiol dehydrogenase (17-HSD; EC 1.1.1.62) has been performed and a sample of about 180 placentae from Italian women has been examined. A common phenotype and only one electrophoretic variant have been observed. Also 17-HSD activity has been tested. A statistically significant negative correlation has been found between 17-HSD activity and both gestational age and birth weight in the last weeks of gestation in a group of at term newborns with weight appropriate for date. This reduction in enzymatic activity is in good agreement with the data on estrone and estradiol which both show a declining rate of increase in the last weeks of pregnancy.
Corbo
R M
RM
Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, University la Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
Scacchi
R
R
Lenci
M
M
D001724:Birth Weight; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel; D004960:Estradiol Dehydrogenases / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D010920:Placenta / Q000201:enzymology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third; D012044:Regression Analysis
D004960:Estradiol Dehydrogenases