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Horm Metab Res 1986; 18(9): 638-641
DOI: 10.1055/s-2007-1012393
Clinical

© Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart · New York

11β-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase Activity of the Human Placenta during Pregnancy

M. J. Blasco, A. López Bernal, A. C. Turnbull
  • Nuffield Department of Obstetrics Gynaecology, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford, United Kingdom
Further Information

Publication History

1985

1985

Publication Date:
14 March 2008 (online)

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Summary

A method for the quantitative estimation of 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity (11β-HSD; EC.1.1.146) in human placental homogenates is described. This method is based on the separation of cortisol and cortisone by high performance liquid chromatography after extraction from homogenates incubated in the presence of cortisol and NADP. 11β-HSD activity (pmol/g wet weight per min) averaged 900 ± 150 (mean ± SEM) at 10 ± 2 weeks of gestation, 915 ± 35 at 17 ± 2 weeks and 790 ± 42 at 40 ± 2 weeks, thus supporting the view that the placenta is an effective barrier to maternofetal cortisol transfer throughout gestation.

Key-Words

Human Placenta - Cortisol - Cortisone - Corticosteroid Metabolism

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