[Enzymatic diagnosis of neurological risk of premature labor]

The level of oxytocinase in the pregnant woman's blood is a sensitive marker of the efficiency of the hypothalamus/hypophisis/suprarenal glands in mother and fetus, as well as the quantity of hormone production, also in placenta, which determines the duration of pregnancy and the course of labor. In the study, the level of oxytocinase was measured before the labour in 485 pregnant women at risk of premature labour. After the mean duration of pregnancy of 264 +/- 12 days, 353 infants were born fully mature (group I), and 132 with the lowered maturity of 6-9 Klimek points (group II). In group II, the mean pregnancy duration (249 days), body mass (2700 g) and oxytocinase level (5.6 mumol/l/min) were significantly lower and tocolysis was necessary twice as often (41% vs. 21%). Independently of the level of newborn maturity in cases of tocolysis the mean level of oxytocinase was significantly 2.6 times lower (3 +/- 0.8 mumol/l/min) than in the other pregnant women (7.9 mumol/l/min). It proves, that low oxytocinasaemia becomes normal following the ACTH-depot therapy, which eliminates the necessity of tocolysis.