title: Stable serum levels of relaxin throughout the menstrual cycle: a preliminary comparison of women with premenstrual dysphoria and controls.
abstract: Serum levels of relaxin in 25 women with premenstrual dysphoria and 25 age-matched controls were determined at three time points during the menstrual cycle. At the same time, levels of estradiol, progesterone, 17-beta-OH-progesterone, free testosterone, total testosterone, sex hormone binding hormone, androstenedione, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate, and 3-alpha-androstanediol glucuronide were determined. Detectable levels of relaxin were found in all women in both the follicular and luteal phase as well as around ovulation, the inter-individual variations being larger than intra-individual differences. The levels of relaxin were not influenced by the fluctuation of the other reproductive hormones. A significant difference between the two groups of women was observed, subjects with premenstrual dysphoria displaying reduced levels of relaxin (p < 0.05) compared to controls. Also, when analysed with respect to a variable number of tandem repeats polymorphism (CT repeats followed by GT repeats) in the promotor region of the relaxin H2 gene, women with premenstrual dysphoria (n = 29) were found to display significantly longer GT repeats than controls (n = 35).
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience and Physiology, Section of Pharmacology, Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pehrsson
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Westberg
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Landén
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ekman
mesh_terms: D018900:Dinucleotide Repeats; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008597:Menstrual Cycle; D011293:Premenstrual Syndrome / Q000097:blood*; D012065:Relaxin / Q000097:blood* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D013548:Sweden
chemical_list: D012065:Relaxin