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Circulating Bioactive Inhibin Levels during Human Pregnancy

Physiology of Human Reproduction Research Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Louvain Brussels, Belgium

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Jianping Qu, M.D., Physiology of Human Reproduction Research Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Louvain 5330, 53 Avenue Emmanuel Mounier, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium.

In this study bioactive inhibin was measured in 112 serum samples from 103 pregnant women by a sensitive ovine pituitary cell culture system. Human inhibin activities were detected in a range between 0.02–5.28 U/mL at six dilutions by using serum from the 38-week pregnant women as a quality control. A remarkable increase in serum inhibin was observed from 4 to 38 weeks of pregnancy. The mean serum inhibin level was 1.58 U/mL at 4 weeks. Thereafter, inhibin levels increased progressively with the weeks of pregnancy (r = 0.988; P < 0.001). In the midterm of pregnancy, serum inhibin was elevated at average levels of 2.84 and 3.84 U/mL at 20 and 28 weeks, respectively. The peak level of inhibin (5.33 U/mL) was obtained at 38 weeks, which was an increase of 237% compared to that at 4 weeks. The average rate of increase in serum inhibin levels was 14.51% every 2–4 weeks (ranging from 8.1–20%). These findings suggest that circulating inhibin is useful marker during human pregnancy. (J Clin Endocrinol Metab 72: 862–866, 1991)

Received July 3, 1990.

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