Relationships between reproductive hormones and maternal pregnancy physiology in women conceiving with or without in vitro fertilization.

We evaluated maternal pregnancy adaptations and their relationships with circulating hormones in women who conceived with or without in vitro fertilization (IVF). Pregnancies were grouped by corpus luteum (CL) number: 1 CL with physiological plasma relaxin concentration (P; spontaneous pregnancies); 0 CL without circulating RLN (programmed cycles); >1 CL with elevated P (ovarian stimulation). Major findings were that declines in plasma osmolality (P) and plasma sodium concentration ([Formula: see text]) were comparable in the 1 CL and 0 CL cohorts, correlated with plasma estradiol and progesterone concentrations but not P; gestational declines in plasma uric acid (UA) concentration (P) were attenuated after IVF, especially programmed cycles, partly because of subdued increases of renal UA clearance; and P and cardiac output (CO) were inversely correlated when plasma estradiol concentration was below ∼2.

Cholecystokinin, gastrin, cholecystokinin/gastrin receptors, and bitter taste receptor TAS2R14: trophoblast expression and signaling.

We investigated expression of cholecystokinin (CCK) in humans and mice, and the bitter taste receptor TAS2R14 in the human placenta. Because CCK and gastrin activate the CCKBR receptor, we also explored placental gastrin expression. Finally, we investigated calcium signaling by CCK and TAS2R14.