Cytokine abundance in placental tissues: Evidence of inflammatory activation in gestational membranes with term and preterm parturition☆,☆☆,★
Section snippets
Material and methods
Cytokines and the anticytokine antisera were obtained from R&D Systems (Minneapolis, Minn). Molecular Probes, Inc (Eugene, Ore), supplied 4-methylumbelliferyl phosphate. Pepstatin-A, phenylmethylsulfonylfluoride, and bicinchoninic acid were supplied by Sigma (St Louis, Mo). Bovine serum albumin free of fatty acids and protease inhibitors were supplied by SERVA Electrophoresis GmbH (Heidelberg, Germany).
Results
The gestational age at delivery for both term groups (term no labor and term spontaneous labor) ranged from 37 to 42 weeks. All women had singleton pregnancies, with the exception of 1 twin birth in the term no labor group. There was no clinical evidence of intrauterine infection in any woman in either term group. In the preterm delivery group 65% of the women (20/31) were delivered vaginally. Of the remainder 10 underwent emergency cesarean delivery in labor (duration of labor, 2-84 hours) and
Comment
This is the first comprehensive study of cytokine concentrations in gestational tissues from women delivered at term and preterm with and without labor. The results demonstrate increased levels of inflammatory cytokines in the gestational membranes of women with term or preterm labor. These findings support the view of labor as an inflammatory process and are consistent with the findings of increased cytokine production by gestational tissues after labor at term6, 7, 17 and preterm.10, 11, 12
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the nursing and theater staff at National Women’s Hospital with the collection of the placental tissues and the excellent technical assistance of Ren-Li Zhou. We also thank Dr M. Battin for screening records for neonatal sepsis.
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Supported by the Auckland University Research Committee, New Zealand Lottery Health Grants Board, the Health Research Council of New Zealand, and the Research Centre in Reproductive Medicine.
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Reprint requests: Jeffrey A. Keelan, PhD, Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Auckland School of Medicine, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand.
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0002-9378/99 $8.00 + 06/1/101143