Women with the rare blood group p are known to have an increased rate of abortions. The case of a
36-year-old woman is presented who had had 7 spontaneous abortions in the first trimester and no live child. When
treated by plasma exchange begun early in pregnancy and continued until the 29th week, she delivered a normal
child. Time to begin, amount and length of time necessary to continue plasma exchange in these patients are
considered. In addition, the question of which fraction of the anti-PP(1)P^k could be responsible for abortion is
discussed. To our knowledge, this is the first case of a woman of p phenotype with no live children but with multiple
abortions treated by this method, which should be seriously considered in similar cases.
1Four 3-adrenoceptor blocking agents, (±)-and (+)-propranolol, practolol and oxprenolol, were found to antagonize, apparently competitively, the responses of both the rat isolated stomach and uterus to 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT). 2 The pA2 values for each of these agents as antagonists of the contractile action of 5-HT on the rat stomach were found to be: (±)-propranolol, 6.08; (+)-propranolol, 4.94; practolol, 3.43; and oxprenolol, 5.99. These values were very similar to the corresponding figures for antagonism of 5-HT-induced contractions of the uterus.3 pA2 values for antagonism of adrenaline-induced relaxations by the four blocking agents on the rat stomach and uterus did not differ from the values for 5-HT blockade. 4 To antagonize contractile responses to acetylcholine of the rat stomach it was necessary to give 100 times more (±)-propranolol than was needed to antagonize responses to 5-HT.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.