Longitudinal assessment of changes in reproductive hormones during normal pregnancy. Clin Chem 37:667–672

  • Peter Boyne
  • Peter Flett
  • John Beilby
  • Ian James
Publication date
January 1991

Abstract

The concentrations of hormones measured in serum from maternal blood change dramatically dunng pregnancy. While the relative contributionsof sex steroids shift from maternal ovaries and adrenals to the fetoplacental unit, other maternal tissues such as pituitaryand liver respond to increasing concentrations of estrogen and secrete increasing amounts of prolactinand sex-hormone-binding globulin. To determine longitudinalchanges in circulating maternal hormones, we collected blood from 60 women on three occasions during their pregnancies. We ob-served a 1.7-fold increase in testosterone concentrationin serum; concentrations of sex-hormone-binding globulin in serum rose 5.6-fold. The major increase (6.8-fold) in estradiol in serum occurred wit...

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