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Serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) was assayed by the radio-biological method of Querido et al. (1953) in 50 pairs of mothers and newborn infants. As a control 20 healthy, non-pregnant women were examined. Compared to that of normal, non-pregnant women the maternal serum TSH concentration was raised. The serum TSH level of the newborn immediately after delivery was about half that of healthy, non-pregnant women and much reduced in comparison with that of the mother in labour. From these results it was concluded that maternal TSH does not pass through the placental barrier. The development and function of the fetal thyroid depend on TSH stimulation from the fetal pituitary and are unrelated to maternal pituitary stimulation.

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SummaryPlasma adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) was assayed by the radioimmunological method of Berson and Yalow (1968) in 60 mothers and their newborn infants. Twenty healthy, nonpregnant women were also investigated and their plasma ACTH concentrations were lower than those in pregnant women. The plasma ACTH level of the newborn was about half that in healthy, non‐pregnant women and much lower than that in patients in labour. These results suggest that maternal ACTH did not cross the placental barrier and that the development and function of the fetal adrenal cortex depended on stimulation by ACTH from the fetal, and not the maternal, pituitary.