Nutraceuticals and Hormonal Balance in Pregnancy
Priyanka Bhatt, Maryam Sadat Miraghajani, Sarvadaman Pathak, Yashwant Pathak in Nutraceuticals for Prenatal, Maternal and Offspring’s Nutritional Health, 2019
During embryo development in uterus, the pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (HcG) is secreted by syncytiotrophoblast cells, and later in pregnancy it is produced by the placenta as a placental hormone. The body produces HcG during pregnancy for many reasons, including preparing the mother’s body for the growing fetus by aiding in the release of other hormones, which can also result in a positive pregnancy test. After the egg has been fertilized and attaches to the uterine wall, HcG nourishes the egg for continued development (10). It promotes progesterone production by the corpus luteum, uterine growth in line with the growth of the fetus, growth and differentiation of fetal organs, and the growth of the umbilical cord. HcG receptors found in the hippocampus, hypothalamus, and brain stem of an adult brain take part in nausea and vomiting, affecting 50%–90% of pregnant women (7). There is a strong peak in HcG levels during the first trimester, typically doubling every 72 hours, until 8–11 weeks of pregnancy, where the hormone will then level off (10). Studies have also correlated the structure of HcG and the thyroid-stimulating hormone to suggest the reaction between them stimulates the thyroid gland (10).
Current Concepts of Implantation and Decidualization
Gabor Huszar in The Physiology and Biochemistry of the Uterus in Pregnancy and Labor, 2020
What is a chorionic gonadotropin? Chorionic gonadotropins are placental in origin, elaborated early in pregnancy and luteotropic in nature. The use of such a generic term without more precise biochemical definition seems inappropriate at this time. Hormones of placental origin exist, differing in time of expression, in biochemical structure and immunological reactivity; some with primary types of action and some with secondary types of action, shared, perhaps, by other placental or pituitary hormones. In order to determine if a hormone is of embryonic origin and plays a role in implantation, its temporal expression, its site of origin, its target, the nature of its action, and its biochemistry must be distinguished from existing placental and pituitary peptide hormones.
Pregnancy-Related Protein Concentrations and Hormone Levels During Pathological Pregnancies
Gábor N. Than, Hans Bohn, Dénes G. Szabó in Advances in Pregnancy-Related Protein Research, 2020
Human chorionic gonadotropin was the first pregnancy specific protein to be identified, and its hormonal effect has been the basis of numerous pregnancy tests since 1927. Many studies have been carried out involving hCG in serum or urine in conditions of pathological pregnancies.14 Through the use of originally semi-quantitative biological and later immunological titration procedures, it was confirmed that low serum or urine concentrations of hCG are significant in the prediction of early, but not of late, abortions; in contrast, hCG level increases in cases of severe pre-eclampsia.14,15 Today hCG examination is considered standard, and is especially common in early-pregnancy comparisons with the behavior, quantitative and otherwise, of newly identified pregnancy-related proteins (see Figures 5 and 6 later in this chapter). hCG remains more informative in judging functionality of living trophoblast than the information yielded by physical examination such as ultrasonography in first trimester abortion cases.
Pregnancy immune tolerance at the maternal-fetal interface
Published in International Reviews of Immunology, 2020
Xiaopeng Li, Jiayi Zhou, Min Fang, Bolan Yu
IL-10 and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) have suppressor properties that regulate the Treg cell-mediated immune tolerance.80 IL-10 and TGF-β can be secreted by many cell types. CD25+CD4+T cells were found to produce higher levels of IL-10 and TGF-β compared with CD25-CD4+ T cells indicating that the two cytokines might have functions in Treg cells immune regulation process. The CD14+ decidual cells81 and DC cells82 can produce IL-10 and TGF-β to induce the Treg cells differentiation. Thus, the Treg cells sustain the maternal-fetal interface immune tolerance by IL-10 and TGF-β with autocrine and paracrine manner. Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is a placental glycoprotein essential for normal pregnancy maintaining.83 In early pregnant stage, Treg cells are attracted by hCG-producing trophoblasts to the maternal-fetal interface to orchestrate immune tolerance toward the fetus.84
Oligosypthomatic ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome in a spontaneous uneventful pregnancy. A case report
Published in Gynecological Endocrinology, 2019
Elena Morotti, Cesare Battaglia
Spontaneous ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (spOHSS) is now a recognized pathology, which spontaneously appears in patients with no history of COH in assisted reproductive techniques. In 1960, Van Wyk and Grumbach [8] first described the combination of multicystic ovaries, hypothyroidism, and precocious puberty. Since then a few cases of spOHSS have been reported in pre-pubertal/adolescent girls [9]. On the basis of de Leener classification, spOHSS may occur in normal pregnancies in association with: (a) mutated follicle stimulating hormone receptor (FSRH) gene (Type I), which may lead to recurrent spOHSS; (b) high level of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), as in multiple or in molar pregnancies (Type II); (c) hypothyroidism (Type III); (d) ectopic FSH-secreting tumors or FSH/LH-secreting pituitary adenoma (Type IV) [10].
The treatment of cervical pregnancy with high-intensity focused ultrasound followed by suction curettage: report of three cases
Published in International Journal of Hyperthermia, 2019
A 29-year-old pregnant woman (gravida 3, para 2) with ultrasonographic diagnosis of cervical pregnancy was seen at our hospital. According to her last menstrual period, the gestational age was six weeks. Transvaginal ultrasound scan revealed a 19 × 13 × 8 mm sized gestational sac in the cervix with active cardiac motion and no evidence of intrauterine pregnancy. The serum β-human chorionic gonadotropin (β-hCG) was 32506 mUI/mL. The cervix was inspected with a bivalve speculum during gynecologic examination and findings were unremarkable. She was treated with HIFU. Ultrasound showed that the fetal cardiac activity disappeared after HIFU. One day after the HIFU, suction curettage under hysteroscopic guidance was then performed. Hysteroscopic examination revealed the gestational sac was located in the posterior wall of the cervical canal. The estimated blood loss was 20 ml. One day after the surgery, the serum β-hCG was significantly declined to a value of 8758 mUI/mL. Thirty-two days after the treatment, the woman resumed her regular menstrual cycles. No obvious complications of HIFU were observed in this case. This patient did not attempt to conceive after the treatment.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Implantation
- Luteinizing Hormone
- Paraneoplastic Syndrome
- Pregnancy Test
- Trophoblast
- Cancer
- Pituitary Gland
- Carcinogenesis
- Hormone
- Maternal Recognition of Pregnancy