Cocaine inhibits hCG secretion by the human term placental cotyeedon perfused in vitro

The impact of cocaine and heroin on the placental transfer of methadone

“…Consequently, until now, it has to be postulated that methadone plus cocaine or methadone plus heroin do not affect placental viability. In case of cocaine the present results do not agree with those reported in a previous study [ 19 , 37 ], where cocaine (without methadone) led to a significant decrease in the hCG release to the maternal circuit.…”

Comparison of placental transfer of local anesthetics in perfusates with different pH values in a human cotyledon model

“…It is unlikely that the local anesthetics would have been mainly responsible for the decrease in hCG. A previous report [19] showed that cocaine suppressed hCG production, but this effect would not have been the case with our study, because the hCG concentration in that study increased timedependently in their control. Placental cell damage resulting from acidosis may increase placental permeability [20,21] and thus increase the F/M ratios of local anesthetics.…”