Objective To establish the plasma evolution of prothrombin fragments 1+2 (F1+2), thrombin–antithrombin III complexes (TAT), fibrin fragment D‐Dimers (DD), von Willebrand factor antigen (vWf), Type 1 plasminogen activator inhibitor antigen (PAI) and blood platelet count during normal pregnancy and to compare these values with those obtained in hypertensive or pre‐eclamptic pregnancies. Design Cross‐sectional study. Subjects Forty‐seven healthy pregnant women with gestational age ranging between 5 and 40 weeks, and fourteen women with gestational age ranging between 25 and 38 weeks presenting with either gestational hypertension (n= 4) or pre‐eclampsia (n= 10). Numbers of nulliparous women in the control, hypertension and pre‐eclampsia groups were 13/47 (28%), 1/4 (25%) and 9/10 (90%), respectively. Results All six markers increased with gestational age in normal pregnant women (P<0.01). Using the upper limit of 95% prediction interval obtained from regression curves as normality threshold, TAT showed the best sensitivity (71%vs <30% for F 1+2, DD, vWf, PAI and platelet count). Conclusion TAT appears to be an interesting marker for detecting haemostatic system alterations in pregnancies complicated by hypertension or pre‐eclampsia. A large prospective study to determine its clinical usefulness for such complicated pregnancies is currently in progress.

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The placental transfer of three opioids used in peridural analgesia, fentanyl, alfentanil and sufentanil, and two reference substances, antipyrine and *H₂O, was determined ex vivo in the human placental cotyledon system. (1) In the first set of experiments, the infusion rates were constant and fixed at physiological flow rates. Under these conditions, the magnitude of the materno-fetal transfer was in the following order: *H₂O = antipyrine = fentanyl > alfentanil > sufentanil. No particular influence of molecular weight, lipophilia, pKa or the degree of ionization could be discerned. (2) In the second set of experiments, the influence of different flow rates, reflecting various pathophysiological conditions, was examined. There was a linear relationship between the maternal flow and the materno-fetal transfer of the three opioids. On the other hand, for antipyrine and tritiated water, the relationship was logarithmic, a difference attributed to the marked lipophilia of the opioids. (3) At high maternal flow rates, saturation was observed for all five substances due to the short duration of contact with the membrane. There were logarithmic relationships between the maternal flow and the materno-fetal transfer. (4) These findings emphasize the importance of the lipophilic and hydrophilic characteristics of drugs on placental transfer, especially in the event of fluctuations in maternal flow.

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