This study was intended to quantify T3 and T4 in various human tissues at different stages of gestation as a contribute in the evaluation of the role of thyroid hormones in fetal development, particularly before the maturation of fetal thyroid function. Moreover, for a better comprehension of the influence of thyroid hormone status in tissues, the study was extended to adults. Embryonic specimens were obtained from voluntary abortions between 6 and 12 weeks of gestation, fetal and neonatal specimens from fetuses and neonates between 15 and 36 weeks of gestation after spontaneous abortion or stillbirth, and adult specimens from men (age range: 45-65 years) after death for cardiovascular diseases. Thyroid hormones were measured by the method of Gordon and coworkers. In embryos T3 and T4 were measured in limbs, carcasses, brain and liver: considering all values measured in the period 9-12 weeks, a mean concentration of 0.11 ng/g for T3 and 1.28 ng/g for T4 was obtained. In pooled limbs of 6-8 weeks T3 was barely measurable (0.01 ng/g). In the carcasses there was an increase in T3 and T4 concentrations of 40 and 20 times respectively from the 9th to the 12th week, when thyroid follicles organization takes place. In fetuses and adults T3 and T4 were measured in brain, heart, kidney, liver, lung, skeletal muscle and skin (mean concentrations: 0.86 ng/g for T3 and 7.44 ng/g for T4 in fetuses and neonates; 1.36 ng/g for T3 and 12.75 ng/g for T4 in adults). Hormones concentration increased with gestational age; the T3/T4 ratio increased until 22-24 weeks, when the prevalent increment in T4 occurs. T3 concentration up to 30 weeks was generally higher in tissues than in cord serum of the corresponding age. During the last month of gestation T3 increment was faster in serum. T4 level was always predominant in serum. In conclusion, T3 and T4 have been detected in the limbs of embryos before the onset of thyroid hormone secretion. Concentrations were 1/150 and 1/70, of the normal maternal blood values respectively. It is conceivable that these hormones are of maternal origin, and the question of whether such small quantities may play a role in fetal development is open.

Brain↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Cortisol in human tissues at different stages of life.

Aim of the work was to measure the cortisol level in human tissues at different stages of life, by means of radioimmunoassay and by chromatography. Viable samples of 13 different tissues were obtained during surgical intervention from 30 to 70 years old patients of either sex. Mean tissue cortisol concentration was 78 +/- 35 ng/g, ranging from 20 +/- 10 ng/g in the thyroid to 124 +/- 76 ng/g in the kidney. Similar values were measured in the corresponding tissues from not decayed corpses, so that paired values could be mediated. However the pancreas, and corrupted autopsy tissues, gave nil or exceedingly high cortisol concentration values; in some cases, opposite extreme values were measured in different organs of the same body. Cortisol concentration was also measured in 11 sound different tissues of spontaneously aborted or stillbirth fetuses, between 16 and 36 weeks of gestation. Mean value was 63 +/- 27 ng/g, ranging from 30 +/- 25 ng/g in the liver to 104 +/- 52 ng/g in the lungs. Also in fetuses nil or exceedingly high cortisol values occurred in altered tissues. One hundred and fourteen samples of limbs and carcasses of 7 to 12 gestational weeks embryos, obtained from voluntary abortions, were also examined: 20% gave nil result, in the remaining mean cortisol concentration was 32 ng/g. In 33 samples of embryos' mixed viscera, RIA and chromatography gave unreliable exceedingly high values. The nil and the exceedingly high values measured in the altered autoptic tissue specimens were inconsistent with the cortisol blood level measured in the patients, as were those measured in embryonic tissues with the acknowledged blood and adrenals cortisol levels at that stage of life. Thus cortisol may be measured by RIA and by chromatography in sound tissues, while the values obtained in the pancreas, in corrupted tissues, and in embryonal viscera do not represent the hormonal milieu, but are likely artifacts due to impeachment of the diagnostic system.

Adrenal Glands↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Human milk components cross-reacting with antibodies against bovine beta-lactoglobulin.

The human whey components cross-reacting with antibodies raised against bovine and/or equine beta-lactoglobulin were screened systematically. The milk of six women on a normal diet was collected within 72 h of confinement and whey components were fractionated by high-speed size exclusion chromatography and reversed-phase techniques. The fractions which were immunoreactive in double diffusion experiments with antisera anti-bovine and/or equine beta-lactoglobulin were subsequently purified by native PAGE and then electroblotted on Pro-blott membrane (Western blotting). Pro-blot membranes were stained in parallel with Coomassie and by immunostaining using antibodies against bovine and/or equine beta-lactoglobulin as first antibody solution. The immunoreactive bands were cut out from the membrane and N-terminally sequenced; all the immunoreactive components were clearly identified as human beta-casein or its (mainly tryptic) fragments. The strong antigenic similarity between human beta-casein and beta-lactoglobulin (bovine and equine) might be of immunological importance; it could mean that breast-fed neonates risk being sensitized to beta-lactoglobulin irrespective of the presence of cow's milk in the mother's diet.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Magnesium concentration in the amniotic fluid].

Using a direct colorimetric method the concentration of magnesium in amniotic liquid was determined in 150 pregnant women at gestational ages ranging from 9 to 41 weeks. Results revealed a men value of 1.7 mg/dl (s = 0.39).

Amniocentesis↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Circadian and circaseptan rhythmicities in corticosteroid-binding globulin (CBG) binding activity of human milk.

It has been demonstrated that human milk contains a corticosteroid-binding globulin (CBG, transcortin) which is very similar to that isolated from plasma. It is agreed, moreover, that the cortisol environment of the breast is important for the synthesis of major milk proteins. It was of interest, therefore, to investigate whether milk transcortin exhibits circadian variations in the binding activity as does the plasma counterpart. Twelve lactating women, aged 23-35 years, collected specimens of milk just before feeding at different times of the 24-h cycle for 3 consecutive days in the first week of lactation. Six women extended milk collection for at least a 28-days span in the first 2 months of lactation. To obtain whey, milk was centrifuged in cellulose nitrate tubes at 105,000 g for 30 min at 4 degrees C. Specific cortisol binding activity of CBG was measured by an adsorption technique and data were expressed as a function of protein content. Cortisol levels in milk were measured by radioimmunoassay. Rhythmometric analyses (single- and mean-cosinor procedures) yielded detection of a significant circadian rhythm in 'apparent specific binding activity' for cortisol (ASBA-F) whereas no significant oscillation was found as far as milk cortisol concentrations were concerned. Mean acrophase of the CBG-binding activity in milk was located in the evening, lagging behind the corresponding activity in serum by approximately 8 h. A circaseptan rhythmicity in milk binding activity was also present in our longitudinal series at a high level of significance. These results provide evidence that CBG binding activity in human milk has a clear circadian rhythm in the face of ecchronic milk cortisol concentrations. Phase-shift with regard to the rhythm of the plasma counterpart may be accounted for by processes of milk accumulation before nursing The significance of circadian and circaseptan variations in specific cortisol (and other steroids) binding in milk awaits further investigation.

Circadian Rhythm↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Neonatal weight: an analysis of the distribution].

We examined birthweight distribution in relation to gestational age from 25 to 42 weeks in a series of 3.526 single newborns and in whom reliability of gestational age was rigorously controlled. To verify the distribution normality the Shapiro-Wilk and the Kolmogorov tests have been applied. Birthweight data follow a gaussian distribution for each gestational age week. Therefore in the birthweight standards estimation the parametric method can safely be applied also when the series includes pathologic and preterm newborns.

Birth Weight↗