OBJECTIVE To study acute hemodynamic alterations in the fetal-placental maternal system immediately after maternal exposure to nicotine. METHODS This is a noncontrolled experimental study involving 21 pregnant smoking women, randomly selected, with uncomplicated pregnancies and without risk factors for fetal heart disease. Patients underwent ultrasound and fetal echocardiography before and af...

alpha-fetoprotein (afp), a serum glycoprotein belonging to the onco-developmental proteins group, serves as a marker both in cancer research and in studies concerning fetal development and fetal pathophysiology. monoclonal anti-afp antibodies are essential reagents in developing appropriate techniques for measurement of this protein. in this study, in order to produce anti-afp monoclonal antibo...

Dopamine is used clinically to stabilize mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) in sick infants. One goal of this therapeutic intervention is to maintain adequate cerebral blood flow (CBF) and perfusion pressure. High-dose intravenous dopamine has been previously demonstrated to increase cerebrovascular resistance (CVR) in near-term fetal sheep. We hypothesized that this vascular response might lim...

A1adenosine receptors (A1ARs) have been recently shown to be expressed in rodent embryonic hearts at very early stages of development. To determine the functional significance of fetal cardiac A1AR expression during embryogenesis, murine fetal heart preparations were studied between postconceptual days 9 and 12. Dose-response curves generated using a variety of adenosine agonists revealed that ...

We report a case of pregnant woman who had been suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum presented with alteration consciousness, nystagmus, generalized weakness and extrapyramidal symptoms at 16th week gestation. Magnetic resonance imaging the brain showed typical findings Wernicke's encephalopathy extrapontine myelinolysis. The clinical features responded dramatically to high dose thiamine suppl...

Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats received 50, 250, and 500 mg/kg/day diisononyl phthalate (DiNP) from GD 12 to 19 via corn oil gavage to study the dose response for effects on fetal male rat sexual development as well as metabolite disposition in the dam and fetus. Monoisononyl phthalate (MiNP), mono(carboxy-isooctyl) phthalate (MCiOP), mono(hydroxyl-isononyl) phthalate (MHiNP), mono(oxo-isononyl) ...

An acute dose (10 mg/100 g body weight) of biotin at the post-implantation stage (day 14 and 15) inhibited the fetal and placental growth, and in few rats it also caused resorption of fetuses and placentae. The maintenance of pregnancy with normal fetal and placental growth was effected with estrogen therapy, but progesterone failed to correct the biotin-induced effect. The uterine and placenta...