Serum steroid levels following a large intravenous dose of a steroid sulfate precursor during the second trimester of human pregnancy. II. Pregnenolone sulfate.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Serum levels of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), 16α-hydroxydehydroepiandrosterone (16α-OH DHEA), estrone (E1), estradiol-17β (E2), and estriol (E3) were measured by radioimmunoassay after intravenous infusion of a large dose of unlabeled DHEA-S to 11 healthy women during midtrimester pregnancy. Subjects were divided into three groups. The first group consisted of 5 subjects with a live fetus and intact placenta in whom the DHEA-S infusion was carried out before the pregnancy was disturbed. The second group consisted of 3 subjects with a dead fetus and an intact placenta in whom the DHEA-S infusion was performed after hypertonic saline amnioinfusion. The third group consisted of 3 subjects in whom the DHEA-S infusion was performed following passage of the fetus and placenta. DHEA-S levels fell exponentially following infusion. The mean DHEA-S half-life for all subjects with an intact placenta regardless of fetal viability was 3.86 ± 0.52 hr. With removal of ...