The balance between fetal oxytocin and placental leucine aminopeptidase (P-LAP) controls human uterine contraction around labor onset

• Main Authors: Masato Yoshihara (Author), Shigehiko Mizutani (Author), Kunio Matsumoto (Author), Yukio Kato (Author), Yusuke Masuo (Author), Arita Harumasa (Author), Shohei Iyoshi (Author), Sho Tano (Author), Hidesuke Mizutani (Author), Tomomi Kotani (Author), Eita Mizutani (Author), Kiyosumi Shibata (Author), Hiroaki Kajiyama (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Elsevier, 2023-09-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.

A fetal pituitary hormone, oxytocin which causes uterine contractions, increases throughout gestation, and its increase reaches 10-fold from week 32 afterward. Oxytocin is, on the other hand, degraded by placental leucine aminopeptidase (P-LAP) which exists in both terminal villi and maternal blood....