Effect of maternal dexamethasone therapy on the levels of oestrogens, progesterone and chorionic gonadotrophin in amniotic fluid and maternal serum.

Ten women were given dexamethasone intramuscularly in order to accelerate fetal lung maturation. Amniotic fluid and maternal serum were assayed for oestrone, oestradiol-17beta, oestriol, progesterone and chorionic gonadotrophin by specific radioimmunoassays before and after the treatment. No hormonal changes were observed in amniotic fluid. The serum levels of oestrogens 2 to 5 days after treatment were not significantly different from those before treatment, indicating that the previously reported suppression of oestrogen production by glucocorticoids disappears rapidly after treatment stops.