Quantitative determination of 17 beta-estradiol and progesterone in cellular fractions of term placentae of normal and hypertensive patients.
During pregnancy the placenta is both the source and target for the actions of steroid hormones. In fact, an intact feto-placental unit is capable of elaborating increasing levels of a wide variety of steroid hormones and many other substances. The falling levels of steroid hormones, like estrogens and progesterone in serum and urine have been reported during pregnancy induced hypertension and/or preeclampsia. The purpose of this study was to determine the concentration of 17 beta-estradiol and progesterone in cytosol, nucleic fraction and particulate fraction of term placentae of normal and hypertensive patients by radioimmunoassay. Data from this study reveal the concentrations of 17 beta-estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P) in various cellular fractions from six placentae of normal patients (NP) and five placentae of hypertensive patients (HP). In HP overall concentrations of E2 (75.8 ng/gm) and P(46.5 micrograms/gm) is greater than those in NP, 32.6 ng/gm and 25.0 micrograms/gm respectively. The concentration of E2 in nuclear fraction of NP and HP remains unchanged while P concentration of nuclear fraction of HP (25.4 micrograms/gm) is much greater than those of NP (8.8 micrograms/gm). Moreover, the E2 concentration (55.5 ng/gm) in cytosol of HP is much greater than those of NP (12.3 ng/gm). Therefore, this study indicates that the abnormal concentrations of E2 and P of placentae are associated with pregnancy induced hypertension.