Effect of parity on pituitary prolactin response to metoclopramide and domperidone: implications for the enhancement of lactation.

Objective: The gastrointestinal motility agents metoclopramide and domperidone are known to increase pituitary prolactin (PRL) secretion and breast milk production. This study compared the effect of single doses of two strengths of metoclopramide and a single dose of domperidone on PRL secretion.

Methods: Ten nonpregnant women had baseline evaluation of serum PRL concentrations.

The acute release of maternal prolactin by instrumental cervical dilatation simulates the second stage of labor.

Objective: We hypothesize that artificial stimulation of the cervix causes an acute secretion of maternal prolactin (PRL) that mimics PRL secretion during the second stage of human labor.

Methods: Eighteen women scheduled for first-trimester therapeutic abortion had a blood sample drawn at the following times: before and after laminaria tent (LT) insertion for cervical ripening, 18-24 hours later upon entry in the procedure room, after LT removal, during instrumental cervical dilatation and uterine evacuation by suction curretage, soon after evacuation, and 1/2 hour and 1 hour after evacuation. Local cervical anesthesia, intravenous analgesics, and sedation were administered before the procedure.

Maternal prolactin secretion is phasic during induced term and post-term labor.

Objective: We hypothesized that regimens of labor induction do not alter the biphasic secretion of maternal prolactin (PRL) seen during spontaneous labor.

Methods: Serial blood samples drawn from 12 women before, during, and after induced labor were assayed for PRL and hCG and compared with cervical dilatation and uterine contraction frequency (UCF). Induction methods were cervical ripening with dinoprostone gel (Prepidil) followed by oxytocin infusion (n = 1), amniotomy followed by oxytocin (n = 4), oxytocin followed by amniotomy (n = 3), amniotomy only (n = 2), and oxytocin only (n = 2).

Phasic maternal prolactin secretion during spontaneous labor is associated with cervical dilatation and second-stage uterine activity.

Objective: In this study, we attempted to determine the physiologic roles of prolactin (PRL) and hCG during labor.

Methods: Serial blood samples were collected from 19 women (15 multiparous and four nulliparous) before, during, and after labor; assayed for PRL and hCG; and compared with cervical dilatation and uterine contraction frequency.

Results: Prolactin levels decreased in association with progressive cervical dilatation during the first stage of labor and reached a nadir at full dilatation.

Prostaglandin F2 alpha output by amnion-chorion-decidua: relationship with labor and prostaglandin E2 concentration at the amniotic surface.

Objective: Our purpose was to evaluate prostaglandin F2 alpha output at fetal membrane surfaces relative to labor and to assess amniotic prostaglandin E2 concentration changes on prostaglandin F2 alpha output.

Study Design: Intact and separated fetal membranes from 10 elective cesarean sections and nine vaginal deliveries were incubated in double-sided perfusion chambers. Prostaglandin F2 alpha and 13,14-dihydro-15-keto-prostaglandin F2 alpha output was measured by radioimmunoassay.

The regulation of sperm motility by a novel hyaluronan receptor.

Objective: To determine if a novel receptor for hyaluronan, termed RHAMM, is responsible for the previously observed increase in sperm locomotion in response to hyaluronan and to assess whether expression of the RHAMM protein is involved in sperm motility.

Design: The RHAMM protein was localized on human sperm by immunofluorescence of fixed cells, fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS) of cell surface phenotype, and Western transblot analysis of cell proteins. The effect of monospecific antibodies on sperm motility was examined using computer-assisted image analysis.

Y body association with morphologic heterogeneity of human sperm.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine a possible association between the Y body and sperm head shape, since sperm head shape may be a factor that influences the rate of migration of X- and Y-bearing sperm cells.

Materials: Sperm cell (n = 1,065) preparations from seven donors were fluorochrome stained for the Y body, and area and shape of Y body-positive and -negative cells were measured from digitized images. The distributions of the segregated cell population measurements were statistically analyzed nonparametrically.

Human embryo associated immunosuppressor factor and serum estradiol synergism in ovarian follicle development.

Problem: The purpose of this study was to test whether the level of serum immunosuppressor factor (EASF) correlates with ovarian follicle development and with serum hormones during the ovarian cycle.

Method: One hundred seventy-three serum samples were collected starting at the time of ovulation and 1 wk after insemination from 29 women attempting pregnancy by ovarian hyperstimulation and intrauterine insemination. After ovarian stimulation, the patients were given human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) 38 h before insemination.

Adverse effects of the salazopyrine metabolite sulphapyridine on female fertility in the rat.

Salazopyrine, a common therapy for inflammatory bowel disease, is known to have a reversible antifertility effect in men and male rats via its metabolite, sulphapyridine. To determine if there is an adverse effect in females, 20 mature Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to a treatment (400 mg/kg sulphapyridine daily), or a control group. After three estrous cycles of treatment, the rats were bred to males of proven fertility.

The role of fetal membranes in regulating production, transport, and metabolism of prostaglandin E2 during labor.

The level of prostaglandin E2, a potent stimulator of myometrial contractions, increases in amniotic fluid during labor. We tested whether amniotic prostaglandin E2 crosses the reflected fetal membranes to the myometrium during labor. Disks of amnion, chorion-decidua, and amnion chorion-decidua from 10 term pregnancies before labor and nine vaginal deliveries after normal spontaneous labor were incubated in two-sided perfusion chambers in the absence or presence of 1 mumol/L indomethacin, or in the presence of a bolus of prostaglandin E2 and radiolabeled prostaglandin E2 added to the fetal chamber.

Quantitative analysis of the effect of freezing on donor sperm motion kinetics.

One hundred ninety-two semen specimens from 14 donors were analyzed on a CellSoft Semen Analyzer (CRYO Resources, New York, NY) before and after freezing. Mean post-thaw motility decreased by 52%. Correlation of the percent decrease in post-thaw versus prefreeze motility was significant but of poor predictive value.

Comparisons of glycosylated and nonglycosylated amniotic fluid prolactins in normal second- and third-trimester pregnancies.

Prolactins in glycosylated and nonglycosylated form were isolated from 218 second- and third-trimester amniotic fluid samples by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, electrotransferred to nitrocellulose paper, and probed with anti-human prolactin serum and protein A labeled with iodine 125. The glycosylated and nonglycosylated prolactin bands were exposed by autoradiography. The bands were analyzed by densitometry, and the ratio of glycosylated to total (glycosylated + nonglycosylated) prolactin was calculated (glycosylated/total ratio) and compared with matched prolactin radioimmunoassay measurements.

Umbilical cord is the major source of prostaglandin E2 in the gestational sac during term labor.

The umbilical cord is an amniotic structure histologically resembling amnion lining the basal plate and reflected chorion. Prostaglandin E2 is secreted by amnion and is present in amniotic fluid. This study measured prostaglandin E2 production by amnion from all three locations to determine the relative contributions of prostaglandin E2 to amniotic fluid at term.

Purified human early pregnancy factor from preimplantation embryo possesses immunosuppresive properties.

This study was undertaken to determine whether early pregnancy factor secreted by preimplantation embryos has immunosuppressive properties. Human early pregnancy factor was purified from embryo growth media of in vitro fertilized ova with ion-exchange and gel filtration chromatography. During each step of purification the fractions were tested for (1) early pregnancy factor activity with the rosette inhibition assay, (2) immunosuppressive properties with a concanavalin A-stimulated lymphocyte proliferation assay, and (3) purity by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.

Fetal control of maternal prolactin production and bioactivity in utero.

Amniotic fluid prolactin is a product of maternal decidualized endometrium that is derived by translocation of the hormone across the reflected fetal membranes. Amniotic fluids from 26 second-trimester (14 to 23 weeks) and 75 third-trimester (29 to 40 weeks) normal singleton pregnancies were evaluated for prolactin content by radioimmunoassay and bioassay with the Nb2 rat lymphoma cell line. The relative bioactivity was calculated as the ratio of bioassay to radioimmunoassay for each fluid.

Prostaglandin E2 release on the fetal and maternal sides of the amnion and chorion-decidua before and after term labor.

Release of prostaglandin E2 on each of the fetal and maternal sides of the fetal membranes (8 cm2) from term cesarean (no labor) and spontaneous vaginal (labor) deliveries was studied with the use of dual-compartment perfusion chambers. Postlabor amnion released significantly (p less than 0.05) more total prostaglandin E2 (5.

Intrauterine insemination for infertility due to cystic fibrosis.

Mild CF is not associated with increased obstetric risk to patients or offspring. These patients can be identified on the basis of Shwachman-Kulczycki scores, nutritional status, normal chest x-ray and pulmonary function tests, normal lung volumes, and mild to moderate airway obstruction. Spontaneous pregnancy has been achieved in women with CF, but they appear to have a decreased fertility.

Epithelial regulation of prolactin effect on amnionic permeability.

The permeability of human amnion to tritiated water is reduced in the presence of both human and ovine prolactin. The cellular composition of amnion is such that the action of prolactin on this membrane probably occurs by way of the epithelium lining the fetal surface. The present study sought to confirm an epithelial site of action of prolactin on the permeability of amnionic membrane to tritiated water.

Prolactin bioactivity following decidual synthesis and transport by amniochorion.

Current evidence suggests that high concentrations of prolactin in human amniotic fluid result from the transport of human decidual prolactin across reflected amniochorion. In this study, tritiated leucine placed on the isolated maternal side of amniochorion with adherent decidua was incorporated into newly synthesized tritiated human decidual prolactin. Identification of tritiated decidual prolactin on the fetal side of suspended membranes was confirmed within 4 hours of incubation.

Variances in mucus architecture as a cause of cervical factor infertility.

A cervical factor accounts for 5% to 10% of infertility among women. In the absence of an immunologic or endocrine-related basis for incompetent sperm/mucus interaction, an idiopathic cause is usually ascribed. This study describes quantitative analyses of the microstructure of mucin strands, observed under scanning electron microscopy, from infertile women displaying incompetent sperm/mucus interaction unrelated to any apparent immunologic or endocrine-associated cause.

Inhibition of fetal membrane prostaglandin production by prolactin: relative importance in the initiation of labor.

Production of a biologically active prolactin by human decidual tissue and its influence on the permeability of amniochorion to water suggests a functional relationship between the polypeptide and fetal membrane metabolism. Under in vitro circumstances, we used ovine prolactin and the Ussing chamber technique to determine the role of prolactin in prostaglandin E2 production by human fetal membrane. Fresh reflected membranes obtained from elective cesarean sections were exposed to ovine prolactin (10 micrograms/ml).

Altered prolactin bioactivity in amniotic fluid of hypertensive pregnancy.

The high concentrations of prolactin (hPRL) in human amniotic fluid appear to be derived principally from maternal decidua. The present study evaluated both the biologic and immunologic activity of amniotic fluid hPRL obtained from normal and selected complicated pregnancies. Biologic and immunologic activities of amniotic fluid hPRL were also compared with lecithin:sphingomyelin ratios and phosphatidylglycerol content.

Simulation of a probable biologic action of decidual prolactin on fetal membranes.

As evidence continues to accumulate supporting a specific effect of prolactin on the permeability of reflected fetal membranes to tritiated water, no information on the role of decidual prolactin in this process is available. Simulation of in vivo events was conducted with the use of isolated membrane preparations of human amnion or chorioamnion with adherent decidua. In the presence of ovine prolactin in equal concentrations on both sides of human amnion, membrane permeability (cm X 10(-4) X sec-1) was reduced from 1.

Ovarian factors inhibit and fetal factors stimulate the secretion of rat placental lactogen.

Removal of fetuses at day 14 of gestation (Ftx14) in the pregnant rat leads to a marked suppression of serum levels of rat placental lactogen (rPL-II). One might attribute this to compromised placental growth in the absence of a fetus. However, if ovariectomy and fetectomy (Ftx14 Ovx14) are carried out at the same time, a great increase in serum rPL-II levels is seen.