Maternal serums and amniotic fluid levels of human placental lactogen in gestational diabetes.

Human placental lactogen (hPL) levels were measured radioimmunologically in maternal serum and in amniotic fluid between the 37th and 39th weeks of gestation in sixteen gestational diabetic and thirty normal pregnant women. There was no significant difference in maternal serum hPL levels between diabetic (6.1 microgram/ml) and normal pregnant women (6.4 microgram/ml). In contrast, the diabetic group was found to have significantly (P less than 0.001) higher concentrations of amniotic fluid hPL (1.2 microgram/ml) than normal pregnant women (0.8 microgram/ml).