Substance P- and Somatostatin-Like Immunoreactivity in Maternal and in Umbilical Cord Plasma and in Amniotic Fluid

Substance P containing neurons are present in the female reproductive organs. It has been reported that substance Plike- immunoreactivity (SP-LI) is decreased during pregnancy in maternal plasma as well as in umbilical cord plasma. In Sep-Pak CIS plasma extracts we found that SP-LI was not modified during pregnancy and both spontaneous and oxytocin-induced labour. Elevated levels of SP-LI were found in umbilical cord plasma and amniotic fluid. HPLC of maternal and umbilical cord samples indicated the presence of authentic SP. Somatostatin-like immunoreactivity was also increased in umbilical cord plasma and amniotic fluid.