High concentrations of serum inhibin in pre-eclampsia.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate maternal serum immunoreactive inhibin (ir-inhibin) concentrations in women with pre-eclampsia, and assess the correlation between serum ir-inhibin and HCG.


METHODS
The subjects comprised 28 pregnant women with suspected intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) during the third trimester. Serum concentrations of ir-inhibin and HCG were measured in 13 women with pre-eclampsia and 15 pregnant women as control subjects. Serum ir-inhibin was determined by a double antibody radioimmunoassay, and HCG by a solid-phase immunoradiometric assay.


RESULTS
There were no significant differences in maternal characteristics between the pre-eclamptic group and control group. The pre-eclamptic group had significantly higher concentrations of serum ir-inhibin and HCG compared with the control group. The serum concentrations of ir-inhibin correlated positively with those of HCG.


CONCLUSIONS
The pre-eclamptic patients displayed high serum levels of ir-inhibin and HCG, and this might reflect hyperplasia of trophoblastic cells.
Hamasaki
T
T
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Nagasaki, Japan. hamasuke@net.nagasaki-u.ac.jp
Masuzaki
H
H
Miyamura
T
T
Yoshimura
S
S
Hamaguchi
N
N
Ishimaru
T
T
D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001724:Birth Weight; D001794:Blood Pressure; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005317:Fetal Growth Retardation / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D015592:Immunoradiometric Assay; D007265:Inhibins / Q000097:blood*; D016014:Linear Models; D010298:Parity; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications; D011247:Pregnancy; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third; D011863:Radioimmunoassay
D015415:Biomarkers; D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin; D007265:Inhibins