Sfakianaki Anna K, Norwitz Errol R
Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520-8063, USA.
J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 2006 Dec;19(12):763-72. doi: 10.1080/14767050600949829.
Progesterone is a steroid hormone that plays an integral role in each step of human pregnancy. In early pregnancy, progesterone produced by the corpus luteum is critical to the maintenance of early pregnancy until the placenta takes over this function at 7 to 9 weeks of gestation, hence its name (pro-gestational steroid hormone). The role of progesterone in later pregnancy, however, is less clear. It has been proposed that progesterone may be important in maintaining uterine quiescence in the latter half of pregnancy by limiting the production of stimulatory prostaglandins and inhabiting the expression of contraction-associated protein genes within the myometrium. Although systemic progesterone withdrawl may not correlate directly with the onset of labour in humans, there is increasing evidence to suggest that progesterone exerts its influence indirectly via a 'functional' withdrawl at the level of the uterus. The molecular mechanisms by which progesterone is able to maintain uterine quiescence and prevent preterm birth in some high-risk women are not clear. Six putative mechanisms have been proposed in the literature by both US and other investigators and are explored in this review.
孕酮是一种类固醇激素，在人类妊娠的每个阶段都起着不可或缺的作用。在妊娠早期，黄体产生的孕酮对于维持早期妊娠至关重要，直至妊娠7至9周胎盘接管该功能，因此它得名于此（孕激素类固醇激素）。然而，孕酮在妊娠后期的作用尚不清楚。有人提出，孕酮可能通过限制刺激性前列腺素的产生并抑制子宫肌层内收缩相关蛋白基因的表达，在妊娠后半期维持子宫静息状态方面发挥重要作用。尽管全身性孕酮撤退可能与人类分娩的开始没有直接关联，但越来越多的证据表明，孕酮通过子宫水平的“功能性”撤退间接发挥其影响。孕酮能够维持子宫静息状态并预防一些高危女性早产的分子机制尚不清楚。美国和其他研究人员在文献中提出了六种假定机制，本综述将对其进行探讨。
