Relaxin: a product of the human corpus luteum of pregnancy.

Plasma samples from peripheral and ovarian veins were obtains from women at cesarean section. A peptide that immunologically cross-reacts with a specific antiserum to porcine relaxin is present in all samples. Its concentration is four times higher in the ovarian vein draining the ovary, which contains the corpus luteum of pregnancy, than in either the peripheral vein or the contralateral ovarian vein. Secretion of ovarian relaxin correlates with secretion of ovarian progesterone, thus providing another index of luteal function.