Corticotrophin‐releasing hormone and corticotrophin‐ releasing hormone binding protein in normal and pre‐eclamptic human pregnancies

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Objective To measure the plasma levels of corticotrophin‐releasing hormone and corticotrophin‐releasing hormone binding protein in normal pregnancy and in pregnancies complicated by pre‐eclampsia.Setting John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford and St Thomas's Hospital, London.Subjects One hundred and twenty pregnant women sampled prospectively throughout gestation, of whom 91 experienced a normal pregnancy and eight developed pre‐eclampsia; in a second study, 10 women with severe pre‐eclampsia, presenting at a range of gestational ages, were sampled once and compared with appropriately matched normal pregnant women.Main outcome measure Plasma levels of corticotrophin‐releasing hormone determined by immunoradiometric assay. Plasma levels of corticotrophin‐releasing hormone binding protein measured by direct radioimmunoassay.Results In the prospective study, plasma samples from women with pre‐eclampsia exhibited higher (390.2 versus 292.7 pmol/l at 36 weeks) levels of corticotrophin‐releasing hormone and significantly lower (5.24 versus 8.14 nmol/l at 36 weeks, P 0.002) levels of corticotrophin‐releasing hormone binding protein than normal controls. In the second, single time point study a significant elevation in CRH (P < 0.002) and reduction in CRH‐BP (P < 0.001) was found in pre‐eclamptic pregnancies compared with controls.Conclusions In human pregnancies complicated by pre‐eclampsia there is an elevated level of corticotrophin releasing hormone whilst there is less corticotrophin‐releasing hormone binding protein; therefore there is a net increase in free potentially bioactive hormone which may play a role in the pathology of the disease.

This publication has 21 references indexed in Scilit: