ABSTRACT
Serial estimations (87) of serum cystine aminopeptidase (CAP) in pregnant women (18) using diphenyl hydantoin, phenobarbital or diazepam revealed that the enzyme levels were below the average for normals in 89% of patients. The initially low CAP levels in women on diazepam were improved within 24 h after betamethasone administration. Subsequent studies in vitro confirmed that diphenyl hydantoin, phenobarbital, diazepam and acetyl salicylate markedly inhibited CAP levels in sera of women (72) with clinically uncomplicated pregnancy. No inhibition of CAP by any of the drugs tested was observed in sera from nonpregnant women (8). However, nonpregnant women receiving medroxyprogesterone acetate injections showed CAP inhibition by various drugs, suggesting some changes in the enzyme moiety under the influence of the hormone.
Subject(s)
Aminopeptidases/blood , Cystinyl Aminopeptidase/blood , Pregnancy/drug effects , Adolescent , Adult , Cystinyl Aminopeptidase/antagonists & inhibitors , Diazepam/therapeutic use , Female , Humans , In Vitro Techniques , Phenobarbital/therapeutic use , Phenytoin/therapeutic use , Pregnancy/blood , Pregnancy Complications/drug therapy , Pregnancy Complications/enzymologyABSTRACT
Five follicular ovarian implantations occurred among 200 ectopic pregnancies encountered during a 14-year period. Abortions from impregnated follicles may cause hemoperitoneum more often than is generally suspected. Wedge resection or cystectomy to ensure hemostasis provides tissue for histological examination, without which ruptured ovarian pregnancy may masquerade as rupture of a corpus luteum with hemorrhage ("ovarian apoplexy"). Including patients reported here, IUCD users have within the past five years accounted for about 10% of all ovarian pregnancies recorded in English.
