Korean J Obstet Gynecol.  2004 Nov;47(11):2064-2069.

The Study about the change of Fetal Adrenal Gland Hormone during Pregnancy and Labor

• Cho HJ
• Lim JS
• Choi SJ
• Song CH
• Kim KY

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
Fetal adrenal gland hormone was known to have close association with fetal weight and labor pain in response to fetal stress. Our purpose was to analyze the correlation between cortisol, DHEA-S in cord blood and obstetric status of fetuses.
METHODS
We collected cord blood samples from 60 neonates immediately after delivery of baby. Six cases were complicated by intrauterine growth restriction and fourteen patients were complicated by preeclampsia. We measured cortisol, DHEA-S levels by using the RIA commercial Kits for the ELISA. We performed statistic analysis of the data on the SPSS computer program.
RESULTS
Cortisol was significantly higher in intrauterine growth restriction (23.4 +/- 16.2 microgram/dL) statistically than control group (13.7 +/- 9.5 microgram/dL) (P=0.022). Cortisol and DHEA-S had negative correlation each other (P=0.025). DHEA-S was significantly lower in intrauterine growth restriction (1202.2 +/- 1005.9 ng/ mL) than control group (1714.8 +/- 978.6 ng/mL) (P=0.01). DHEA-S had increased with advancing gestational age (P=0.03) and fetal weight (P=0).
CONCLUSION
Cord blood cortisol level and DHEA-S level has close association with intrauterine growth restriction and negative correlation with each other.

Keyword

Cord blood; Cortisol; DHEA-S

MeSH Terms

Adrenal Glands*
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
Female
Fetal Blood
Fetal Weight
Fetus
Gestational Age
Humans
Hydrocortisone
Infant, Newborn
Labor Pain
Pre-Eclampsia
Pregnancy*
Hydrocortisone