title: Hourly human chorionic gonadotropin secretion profiles during the peri-implantation period of successful pregnancies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To characterize the hourly profiles of hCG secretion in blood during conceptive cycles that ended in successful pregnancy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective study.
  
  
  METHODS
  University fertility clinic and research laboratories.
  
  
  METHODS
  Healthy spontaneously ovulating women with regular menses, no history of infertility, and either no male partner or an azospermic partner.
  
  
  METHODS
  Frequent blood samples were collected daily from 11 spontaneously ovulating women during 11 cycles of artifical insemination with donor semen. The concentrations of hCG, LH, and FSH were measured in the blood by immunoassay.
  
  
  METHODS
  The concentration of hCG in the frequent blood samples and the rate that the concentration of hCG changed during the period of frequent sampling.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For the conceptive cycles resulting in successful pregnancies analyzed, hourly hCG concentrations were observed to increase in a consistent nonpulsatile manner.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data provide the first characterization of the hourly secretion profile of hCG in early pregnancy as well as provide further evidence that individual daily blood samples are sufficient for the accurate assessment of pregnancy.
authors.affiliation: Center for Health and the Environment, University of California, Davis, California 95616-8615, USA.
authors.forename: Pete N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Lohstroh
authors.forename: James W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Overstreet
authors.forename: Dennis R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.forename: Steven T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.forename: Jeffrey R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Cragun
authors.forename: Stephen P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Boyers
authors.forename: Bill L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Lasley
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D010064:Embryo Implantation / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005306:Fertilization / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007316:Insemination, Artificial, Heterologous; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone / Q000378:metabolism; D008597:Menstrual Cycle; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D011446:Prospective Studies
chemical_list: D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone