Chorioamnionitis and uterine function.

Objective: To clarify the relationships between intrapartum chorioamnionitis and abnormalities of uterine function, including labor abnormalities, cesarean delivery, and hemorrhage during parturition.Methods: We did a retrospective cohort study on 16,226 deliveries between 1986 and 1996 that were identified from the University of California, San Francisco Perinatal Database. Variables included maternal age, parity, birth weight, gestational age, epidural usage, oxytocin usage, cesarean delivery, labor abnormalities, length of labor stages, estimated blood loss, and chorioamnionitis status.

Chorioamnionitis and uterine function.

Objective: To clarify the relationships between intrapartum chorioamnionitis and abnormalities of uterine function, including labor abnormalities, cesarean delivery, and hemorrhage during parturition.

Methods: We did a retrospective cohort study on 16,226 deliveries between 1986 and 1996 that were identified from the University of California, San Francisco Perinatal Database. Variables included maternal age, parity, birth weight, gestational age, epidural usage, oxytocin usage, cesarean delivery, labor abnormalities, length of labor stages, estimated blood loss, and chorioamnionitis status.

Role of the IGF system in trophoblast invasion and pre-eclampsia.

Insulin-like growth factor-II (IGF-II) and IGF binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1) appear to play an important role in paracrine interactions at the maternal-fetal interface in human pregnancy. Patterns of expression of IGF-II and IGFBP-1 at the decidual-trophoblast interface suggest paracrine interactions occur between the IGF-II-expressing invading cytotrophoblast and maternal decidua-derived IGFBP-1. Autocrine/paracrine actions of trophoblast-derived IGF-II may be important in invasion, and for both trophoblast and decidual function.

Paracrine actions of insulin-like growth factors and IGF binding protein-1 in non-pregnant human endometrium and at the decidual-trophoblast interface.

Insulin-like growth factors, IGF-I, IGF-II, and IGF binding protein (IGFBP-1) appear to play major roles in endometrial development during the menstrual cycle and in the process of implantation. The mitogenic, differentiative, and anti-apoptotic properties of these growth factors, as well as their spatial and temporal expression in cycling endometrium, suggest that they may participate in endometrial growth, differentiation, inhibition of apoptosis, and perhaps angiogenesis. IGFBP-1 is a major protein product of non-pregnant endometrium during the mid-late secretory phase and occurs in abundance in decidua.