The present investigation was undertaken to study the morphological characteristics of foetal membrane of swamp buffaloes of Assam. Animals were calved normally and no cases of retention of placenta were recorded. The average expulsion time, weight, length, width and number of cotyledons of foetal membranes were 241.20+ 22.05 minutes, 3.47+0.12 kg, 171.87+ 2.99 cm, 30.83+ 0.73 cm and 114.83+ 5....

Preterm birth remains the largest single cause of neonatal death and morbidity. Infection and/or inflammation are strongly associated with preterm delivery. Glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) is known to be a crucial mediator of inflammation homeostasis. The aims of this study were to determine the effect of spontaneous human labour in foetal membranes and myometrium on GSK3α/β expression, and t...

THE problem of reducing perinatal mortality is closely related to the early and accurate recognition of foetal distress. Although the estimation of urinary oestrogen and/or pregnanediol before labour, and the continuous recording of the foetal heart rate during labour are of some value, the problem is far from solved. In this paper we present the results obtained with two less-known methods for...

Cellular proliferation of rat glioma C6 BU1 cells in tissue culture is dependent on the presence of either calf or foetal-calf serum in the medium. Foetal-calf serum stimulated a high-affinity GTPase in membranes derived from C6 BU1 cells. Pretreatment of the cells with pertussis toxin decreased the high-affinity GTPase activity substantially, and attenuated the foetal-calf-serum-stimulated inc...

Premature rupture of foetal membranes (PROM) complicates 10 % of pregnancies and is the most important identifiable cause of pre-term delivery. The diagnosis of PROM is based on the detection of amniotic fluid in the vagina. This can be achieved by chemical, clinical or biochemical methods. An ideal test should be specific for amniotic fluid and should not be affected by gestational age or inte...