title: [Surface properties of serum in case of premature onset of labour (author's transl)].
abstract: Fifty-eight pregnant women with premature onset of labour were compared to 149 women with normal course of pregnancy. Surface activity of the serum in the former group was found to be higher than that in the latter. The information obtained from determining the hysteresis curve of the serum by means of Wilhelmy's balance was much more complete than that recordable from surface tension with 20 per cent surface expansion (gamma minimum). An analysis was made, at the same time, of those serum parameters with highest surface activity, such as free fatty acids and lecithin. Their growth in concentration was found to coincide with onset of labour proper rather than with a condition in which the organism simply exhibited a trend towards premature labour. Hence, measurement of serum surface tension proved to be the more sensitive parameter by which to predict forthcoming premature labour. The actual cause underlying such behaviour so far has remained unelucidated, since an extremely sophisticated process has to be assumed to take place on the serum surface. These studies, consequently, have not been completed. They are likely, however, to provide some preliminary hints on quite peculiar serum changes in concomitance with premature labour or with the trend to it.
mesh_terms: D005230:Fatty Acids, Nonesterified / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood*; D007752:Obstetric Labor, Premature / Q000097:blood*; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines / Q000097:blood; D011247:Pregnancy; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D005230:Fatty Acids, Nonesterified; D008055:Lipids; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines
vernacular_title: Oberflächeneigenschaften des Serums bei vorzeitigem Wehenbeginn.