OBJECTIVE To determine whether treatment with interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL1-ra) would affect amniotic fluid concentrations of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and prostaglandins or clinical or microbiological outcomes in a model of ascending bacterial infection in pregnancy. METHODS Timed pregnant New Zealand white rabbits at 70% of gestation underwent endoscopic inoculation o...

The changes with time in intrauterine tissue production and concentrations of PGE-2, PGF-2 alpha, 6-keto PGF-1 alpha and PGFM (13,14-dihydro-15-keto PGF-2 alpha) in maternal and fetal plasma and amniotic fluid were investigated during the first 72 h of pulsatile administration of ACTH1-24 to chronically catheterized fetal sheep. By 72 h there were no changes in the frequency, maximum amplitude ...

We hypothesized that prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) stimulates amniotic fluid transport across the amnion by upregulating vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in amnion cells and that amniotic PGE2 concentration correlates positively with intramembranous (IM) absorption rate in fetal sheep. The effects of PGE2 at a range of concentrations on VEGF 164 and caveolin-1 gene expressions wer...

Ingestion of amniotic fluid and placenta by rats has been shown to enhance opioid-mediated antinociception but not affect the nonopioid-mediated antinociception produced by aspirin, suggesting specificity for opioid-mediated processes. However, enhancement by the active substance(s) in amniotic fluid and placenta (POEF, for placental opioid-enhancing factor) of antinociception produced by other...

Westover AJ, Hooper SB, Wallace MJ, Moss TJM. Prostaglandins mediate the fetal pulmonary response to intrauterine inflammation. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 302: L664–L678, 2012. First published January 27, 2012; doi:10.1152/ajplung.00297.2011.— Intra-amniotic (IA) lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induces intrauterine and fetal lung inflammation and increases lung surfactant and compliance in pre...