Hourly human chorionic gonadotropin secretion profiles during the peri-implantation period of successful pregnancies.
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.
Lohstroh
Pete N
PN
Center for Health and the Environment, University of California, Davis, California 95616-8615, USA.
Overstreet
James W
JW
Stewart
Dennis R
DR
Nakajima
Steven T
ST
Cragun
Jeffrey R
JR
Boyers
Stephen P
SP
Lasley
Bill L
BL
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
D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone