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Placental and circulating pregnancy-associated plasma protein A concentrates in normal and pathological term

Obstetrics and Gynecology
|September 1, 1986
PubMed

The relationship between placental and peripheral concentrations of pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) was investigated, using specific radioimmunoassay techniques. At term, placental concentrations of PAPP-A were significantly lower in diabetic pregnancies; 1.9 +/- 0.2 micrograms/mg (mean +/- SE) placental protein as compared with controls (3.2 +/- 0.3). Similar findings were noted when results were analyzed per total placental weight. Patients with classes C-R (1.2 +/- 0.3) had significantly lower PAPP-A levels than in classes A, B (2.4 +/- 0.3 micrograms/mg protein, P = .02). Peripheral PAPP-A levels were measured in patients with chronic hypertension, toxemia, diabetes mellitus, and healthy controls. Overall, the distribution of PAPP-A values in patients with diabetes mellitus were different from controls. In addition, concentrations of PAPP-A in patients with classes B-D were significantly lower than in class A (P less than .001). In patients with chronic hypertension, some values of PAPP-A were lower than the tenth percentile, while patients with toxemia had a distribution which was similar to that of controls.

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