Abstract
The serum of the human conceptus contains α-fetoprotein, a protein not found in the serum of the pregnant woman. Concentrations of α-fetoprotein may be low in infants born after premature spontaeous labor, suggesting that fetal synthesis of the protein in these instances is inhibited some days or weeks prior to the actual onset of labor. In the present study, selected tissues from human embryos of 6 to 9 weeks' gestation and from rat fetuses of 15 days' gestation were incubated with C14-amino acids. Immunoelectrophoresis of the culture fluid followed by autoradiography revealed that α-fotoprotein was synthesized in human liver, rat liver and rat yolk sac, but not in any of the other tissues examined; human yolk sac was not studied. Serum α-fetoprotein concentrations in the rat normally declined abruptly after birth to approximately half of the prenatal level by 2 to 3 days of age, in accord with the loss of fetal membranes at delivery; the α-fetoprotein level then remained relatively constant until the rat was 6 to 8 days of age, after which synthesis of the protein was increasingly suppressed. Marked suppression of α-fetoprotein synthesis in the rat could be induced in the first week of life either by cortisone or by sham operations; epinephrine, corticosterone, testosterone, progesterone and estradiol had no observable effect on synthesis. Participation of the adrenal in the suppression noted to follow surgery was indicated by the observation that adrenalectomy did not inhibit α-fetoprotein synthesis. Subcutaneous injection of cortisone into the pregnant rat suppressed α-fetoprotein synthesis in the fetus in utero as did sham operations on the pregnant rat. (APS)
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Gitlin, D., Boesman, M. 64 Serum α-Fetoprotein Synthesis in the Human and Rat Fetus and its Inhibition in the Rat. Pediatr Res 1, 216–217 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-196705000-00071
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-196705000-00071