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Placental Alkaline Phosphatase in Maternal Serum during Normal and Abnormal Pregnancy

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Abstract

THE activity of serum alkaline phosphatase increases during the last trimester of pregnancy. Results of studies employing heat stability1, differential inhibition2 and starch gel electrophoresis3 have suggested that the increase in the last trimester is a consequence of the appearance in the serum of the placental phosphatase isoenzyme. Other studies in humans have suggested that the increase is caused by the appearance of foetal4 or maternal osseous phosphatase5. We have used an immunochemical method suitable for specific and quantitative measurement of individual organ specific alkaline phosphatase isoenzymes from mixtures of isoenzymes6,7. By this method it was possible to determine the level of placental phosphatase activity in venous samples from the maternal circulation during each trimester of both normal and abnormal pregnancies. We report here evidence that the placental phosphatase is present in the maternal circulation during the first trimester of pregnancy and increases during gestation. In abnormal pregnancy, including death in utero, placental phosphatase does not increase proportionally.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Pathology, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland

    HOWARD H. SUSSMAN & MIRIAM BOWMAN

  2. Memorial Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases, New York, New York

    JOHN L. LEWIS JUN.

Authors
  1. HOWARD H. SUSSMAN
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  2. MIRIAM BOWMAN
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  3. JOHN L. LEWIS JUN.
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SUSSMAN, H., BOWMAN, M. & LEWIS, J. Placental Alkaline Phosphatase in Maternal Serum during Normal and Abnormal Pregnancy. Nature 218, 359–360 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/218359a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/218359a0

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