Maternal corticotropin-releasing hormone and habituation in the human fetus

✍ Scribed by Curt A. Sandman; Pathik D. Wadhwa; Aleksandra Chicz-DeMet; Manuel Porto; Thomas J. Garite

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 127 KB
• Volume: 34
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0012-1630
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-2302(199904)34:3<163::aid-dev1>3.0.co;2-9

✦ Synopsis

Elevated concentrations of maternal corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH)

during the 2nd and early 3rd trimester of human pregnancy are associated with spontaneous preterm birth, but the effects of maternal CRH on the fetus are unknown. Maternal plasma was collected for analysis of CRH concentration, m ϭ 156.24 Ϯ 130.91 pg/ml, from 33 pregnant women during Weeks 31-33 of gestation. Immediately after collection of plasma, fetal heart rate (FHR) measures were obtained in response to a challenge with a series of vibroacoustic stimuli. Fetuses of mothers with highly elevated CRH did not respond significantly to the presence of a novel stimulus in a repeated series, p ϭ 0.016. These effects on the FHR response were not related to parity, fetal gender, medical (antepartum) risk, or eventual birth outcomes. Impaired dishabituation in these fetuses of mothers with high concentrations of CRH suggests that neurological systems rich with CRH receptors that support learning and memory, such as