[Variations of placental enzymes in hypoxia (author's transl)]

Tissue of normal-term placentas, after normal pregnancy and spontaneous delivery, was incubated under normoxic and hypoxic conditions. Placental tissue samples were taken under sterile conditions, immediately after delivery, and incubated six hours in a medium to which six per cent or 26 per cent oxygen were supplied. After incubation, the tissue was homogenised, and the following enzymes were determined in the supernatant: aldolase, lactate-dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase, acid phosphatase, and glucose-6-dehydrogenase. - The activities of aldolase, glucose-6-dehydrogenase, and acid phosphatase increased and those of lactate-dehydrogenase and acid phosphatase decreased under conditions of oxygen deficit. Such changes in enzyme activity seem to suggest that in hypoxia anaerobic glycolysis is likely to increase, while maternal-foetal exchange drops, all accompanied by beginning compensatory proliferation of the trophoblast.