Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF ) Freely available
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Abbas, A.
Right arrow Articles by Nicolaides, K. H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Abbas, A.
Right arrow Articles by Nicolaides, K. H.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Human Reproduction, Vol. 11, No. 4, pp. 900-902, 1996
© 1996 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology

research-article

Maternal serum concentrations of pregnancy associated placental protein A and pregnancy specific {beta}-1-glycoprotein in multifetal pregnancies before and after fetal reduction

Anthony Abbas1, Neil J. Sebire1, Mark Johnson2, Nicholas Bersinger3 and Kypros H. Nicolaides1,4

1The Harris Birthright Research Centre for Fetal Medicine, King's College Hospital Medical School London, UK 2Academic Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The Chelsea and Westminster Hospital London, UK 3The Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Endocrinology, University of Berne Beme, Switzerland

Correspondence: 4To whom correspondence should be addressed

Placental function in multifetal pregnancies before and after embryo reduction was investigated by measuring maternal serum concentrations of pregnancy associated placental protein-A (PAPP-A) and pregnancy specific {beta}-1-glycoprotein (SP-1). Three groups of pregnant women were studied following assisted reproduction; groups 1 and 2, were 12 singleton and 12 twin pregnancies respectively, and group 3 comprised 12 women with multifetal pregnancies undergoing embryo reduction. PAPP-A and SP-1 were measured serially at 8–21 weeks gestation. In all pregnancies, maternal serum PAPP-A and SP-1 increased with gestation. In twin pregnancies the mean concentrations of SP-1 were significantly higher than in singletons at all gestations, whereas for PAPP-A, concentrations were similar between these groups. In multifetal pregnancies before embryo reduction, the serum concentrations of both proteins were significantly higher than in twin pregnancies. Following reduction, the concentrations of PAPP-A remained significantly higher than for twins throughout, whereas the concentrations of SP-1 gradually converged towards those of twins; by 19 weeks there was no difference between the means of the two groups. These findings suggest that circulating concentrations of SP-1 reflect total placenta mass, which is proportional to the number of live fetuses, whereas the pattern of PAPP-A changes suggests that this protein is produced by the placenta, decidua and other tissues.

Key words: embryo reduction/multifetal pregnancy/pregnancy associated placental protein A/pregnancy-specific {beta}-1-glyco-protein


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.