[The effect of hypertension on prolactin levels in pregnant women at term].

In 79 women with regular menstrual cycle and giving birth to children on the 274th to 287th day of gestational age, prolactin was determined in mother's serum, umbilical artery serum and in the amniotic fluid, by using radioimmunity method in mg/l. Two groups of women and their newborn infants were examined. In the first group (n - 36) were women with hypertension, in the second (n - 43) healthy women. The average values of prolactin (X +/- SD) in mother's serum (214.3 +/- 98.6 micrograms/l and 189.4 +/- 94.7 micrograms/l) in examined women do not differ significantly (p > 0.05). The level of prolactin in the serum of embryo is much higher (p < 0.01) in women with hypertension (338.2 +/- 106.5 micrograms/l) than it is the case in normal pregnancies (251.6 +/- 99.2 micrograms/l). The values of prolactin are significantly higher (p < 0.01) in the amniotic fluid in women from the examined group (527.3 +/- 188.6 micrograms/l) than in the control group (398.1 +/- 156.3 micrograms/l). The difference between the level of prolactin in the amniotic fluid of women with meconium and clear amniotic fluid in both examined groups is not significant (p > 0.05). Values of correlation coefficient are small (r < 0.317) and point that the mutual dependence among the prolactin in mother's serum, umbilical artery serum and serum of the amniotic fluid is not significant.