Aspects of placental growth hormone physiology

Assessment of ghrelin, GHS-R, GH, and neurohormones in human fetal pituitary glands and central nervous system: an immunohistochemical study.

“…Furuhashi et al determined GH and SS concentration in the serum of umbilical blood in newborns and their mothers, and showed a more than four times higher GH concentration in the blood serum of fetuses than in their mothers while the SS concentration was similar in mothers and fetuses [25]. In the blood serum of mothers in the third trimester of pregnancy GH comes mainly from the placenta and so far there has been no proof of its transmission to fetal circulation [26]. On the other hand, it is assumed that GH in fetal circulation comes chiefly from the fetal pituitary.…”

Placental growth hormone, pituitary growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor, and ghrelin in umbilical cord blood serum and amniotic fluid

“…It seems that the foetal pituitary gland does not play an important role in those compensation processes. No GH-V gene expression was noted in the pituitary gland, and no GH-N gene transcript was detected in the placenta [2,7,11,16,17]. Furthermore, the median value of GH1 concentrations was similar in large and small neonates and also in full-term and prematurely born infants (Table I and II).…”

“…Growth processes are relatively well recognised in the postnatal phase, where the key endocrine factor controlling growth is the growth hormone 1/insulinlike growth factor 1 (GH1/IGF-1) axis [1]. Considerably less is known about the mechanisms controlling growth in foetal life in which IGF-1 does not work in conjunction with GH1 [2,3].…”

“…It shows a high level of homology to the pituitary growth hormone, being different in terms of 13 amino acids and N-glycosylation sites. This protein is synthesised and secreted by a syncytiotrophoblast and extravillous cytotrophoblast [2,6,7]. In their detailed review, Fuglsang and Ovesen [2] show that PGH seems to be only a maternal phenomenon.…”

“…This protein is synthesised and secreted by a syncytiotrophoblast and extravillous cytotrophoblast [2,6,7]. In their detailed review, Fuglsang and Ovesen [2] show that PGH seems to be only a maternal phenomenon. There are some publications describing the presence of this protein both in umbilical cord blood serum and amniotic fluid [8][9][10].…”