title: Circulating bioactive inhibin levels during human pregnancy.
abstract: In this study bioactive inhibin was measured in 112 serum samples from 103 pregnant women by a sensitive ovine pituitary cell culture system. Human inhibin activities were detected in a range between 0.02-5.28 U/mL at six dilutions by using serum from the 38-week pregnant women as a quality control. A remarkable increase in serum inhibin was observed from 4 to 38 weeks of pregnancy. The mean serum inhibin level was 1.58 U/mL at 4 weeks. Thereafter, inhibin levels increased progressively with the weeks of pregnancy (r = 0.988; P less than 0.001). In the midterm of pregnancy, serum inhibin was elevated at average levels of 2.84 and 3.84 U/mL at 20 and 28 weeks, respectively. The peak level of inhibin (5.33 U/mL) was obtained at 38 weeks, which was an increase of 237% compared to that at 4 weeks. The average rate of increase in serum inhibin levels was 14.51% every 2-4 weeks (ranging from 8.1-20%). These findings suggest that circulating inhibin is useful marker during human pregnancy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vankrieken
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brulet
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Thomas
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001681:Biological Assay; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007265:Inhibins / Q000097:blood*; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000166:cytology; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000097:blood*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012756:Sheep; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D007265:Inhibins