D P Tsakonas | PubMed Health

PubMed1995

Changes in maternal plasma macrophage-colony stimulating factor levels during normal pregnancy.

An enzyme-like immunosorbent assay and a blood autoanalyser were used to determine macrophage-colony stimulating factor (M-CSF) levels and the absolute number and percentage of circulating monocytes in 80 normal women with singleton pregnancies at 12-40 weeks' gestation, and ten healthy non-pregnant volunteers. The mean values of M-CSF and absolute number and percentage of circulating monocytes of the control group were 367 U/ml (SD 43) and 389 x 10(6)/l (SD 180) and 5.3% (SD 1.7) respectively. In pregnancy, M-CSF was significantly higher than non-pregnant controls only after 28 weeks' gestation. The absolute number and the percentage of circulating monocytes increased significantly with gestation after 16 weeks. There was no significant association between the concentration of M-CSF and the number or percentage of circulating monocytes. These data suggest that during pregnancy there is an up-regulation of M-CSF and monocytes.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Myeloperoxidase activity and nuclear segmentation of maternal neutrophils during normal pregnancy.

Myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity and nuclear segmentation of neutrophils were measured in peripheral blood samples from 90 normal pregnant women, arranged in nine groups of ten each, every four weeks at 8-40 weeks gestation and from 25 non-pregnant healthy female controls. A blood autoanalyser (Technicon H*1) was used to determine the mean peroxidase index (MPXI) and the lobularity index (LI) of circulating neutrophils. Mean MPXI levels in pregnancy decreased with gestation to a minimum at 20 weeks' gestation and increased thereafter to reach non-pregnant levels at 36 weeks. Mean LI values did not change significantly with gestation, but were significantly lower throughout pregnancy compared to controls. There was no significant association between MPXI and LI. It could be postulated that the fall in MPXI during mid-gestation is due to degranulation of neutrophils and the subsequent rise at the end of pregnancy could be a consequence of enhanced MPO activity under the influence of oestrogens. Low LI suggests the production of immature neutrophils during pregnancy.

Cell Nucleus↗