title: Placental and circulating pregnancy-associated plasma protein A concentrates in normal and pathological term pregnancies.
abstract: The relationship between placental and peripheral concentrations of pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) was investigated, using specific radioimmunoassay techniques. At term, placental concentrations of PAPP-A were significantly lower in diabetic pregnancies; 1.9 +/- 0.2 micrograms/mg (mean +/- SE) placental protein as compared with controls (3.2 +/- 0.3). Similar findings were noted when results were analyzed per total placental weight. Patients with classes C-R (1.2 +/- 0.3) had significantly lower PAPP-A levels than in classes A, B (2.4 +/- 0.3 micrograms/mg protein, P = .02). Peripheral PAPP-A levels were measured in patients with chronic hypertension, toxemia, diabetes mellitus, and healthy controls. Overall, the distribution of PAPP-A values in patients with diabetes mellitus were different from controls. In addition, concentrations of PAPP-A in patients with classes B-D were significantly lower than in class A (P less than .001). In patients with chronic hypertension, some values of PAPP-A were lower than the tenth percentile, while patients with toxemia had a distribution which was similar to that of controls.
mesh_terms: D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000378:metabolism; D010920:Placenta / Q000378:metabolism*; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000378:metabolism; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D011249:Pregnancy Complications, Cardiovascular / Q000378:metabolism; D011257:Pregnancy Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D011254:Pregnancy in Diabetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011266:Pregnancy-Associated Plasma Protein-A / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D011257:Pregnancy Proteins; D011266:Pregnancy-Associated Plasma Protein-A