Hormonal Patterns in Conceptual Cycles and Early Pregnancy

Abstract

Androstenedione, testosterone, progesterone and human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) in plasma and total oestrogens, luteinizing hormone (LH) and HCG in urine were measured in five women during conceptual cycles and in early pregnancy. There were increased levels in plasma and urine of all the hormones measured between 12 to 48 days after ovulation except progesterone. The concentration of this hormone in plasma decreased during this time. The possible sources of these hormones in early pregnancy are discussed. Steroids, 22,47. Steroids, 16, 415. Embryology, 31, No. 200, 65. Investigation, 45, 301. 607.

Relationship between ovarian and placental steroid production during early pregnancy in the marmoset monkey (Callithrix jacchus)

“…The gradual changes in the peripheral concentrations of progesterone, oestrone and oestradiol-17ß during the first 60 days of pregnancy in the marmoset show more similarities to those in women (Tulchinsky & Hobel, 1973;Mishell, Thorneycroft, Nagata, Murata & Nakamura, 1973;Corker, Michie, Hobson & Parboosingh, 1976) and chimpanzees (Reyes, Winter, Faiman & Hobson, 1975) than to the more abrupt changes that occur in the rhesus monkey (Atkinson et ai, 1975). The pattern of increasing 17a-hydroxyprogesterone concentrations, however, differs from that in human pregnancy in which there is a gradual fall in levels between the 4th and 6th week of gestation (e.g.…”

Changes in the Binding of Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin/Luteinizing Hormone, Follicle-Stimulating Hormone and Prolactin to Human Corpora Lutea During the Menstrual Cycle and Pregnancy

“…It is unlikely that this loss in binding directly causes luteal regression since binding of HCG/LH during pregnancy is very low but progesterone secretion is maintained and enhanced. In early pregnancy, substantial amounts of HCG are found in serum only during the late luteal phase of the cycle when the decrease in HCG/LH binding has already occurred (Corker, Michie, Hobson & Parboosingh, 1976). Nevertheless, the corpus luteum remains responsive to HCG both in vivo and in vitro (Savard, Marsh & Rice, 1965;Jewelewicz et al 1974).…”

Some clinical aspects of pituitary-ovarian relationships in women with ovulatory infertility

“…Unfortunately, 24-h urine collections were not obtained from a comparable series of normal women and it was therefore impossible to compare these results from infertile patients directly with those from normal women. The basal cycles in these 10 infertile patients, when pooled around the day of the total oestrogen peak (Corker, Michie, Hobson & Parboosingh, 1976), showed essentially the same hormone profiles as the plasma samples (Text- fig. lc, d).…”