A human hormone. In 1986, Mark Bogart discovered that elevated levels of human chorionic gonadotropin in pregnant women are correlated with babies (later) born with Down Syndrome.
Hormones produced by the placenta and detected in the urine and blood of a pregnant woman.
The gonad stimulating hormone from the embryo.
A hormone produced by the placenta that can be detected in a woman’s urine.
A hormone produced by cells of placental origin. High levels usually indicate pregnancy; very high levels may indicate multiple pregnancy or, in a nonpregnant woman, point to a gynecologic problem.
A hormone produced in the early weeks of pregnancy by the placenta. Human chorionic gonadotropin, or HCG, stimulates the ovaries to produce the hormones estrogen and progesterone for the first 10 to 12 weeks of pregnancy. The hormones are needed so that the endometrium (the uterine lining in which the embryo grows) can be properly nourished. After about 12 weeks, the placenta becomes the major source of progesterone, a hormone essential to the maintenance of the pregnancy and prevention of miscarriage. Human chorionic gonadotropin also stimulates the male fetus’s testicles to produce testosterone, which stimulates the development of the fetus’s sex organs. The tests used to confirm a pregnancy all involve detecting HCG in the woman’s urine or blood.
A hormone, secreted in early pregnancy by the trophoblasts of the fertilized ovum, that maintains the corpus luteum during early pregnancy, stimulating it to secrete both estrogen and progesterone. Laboratory tests for hCG in maternal blood or urine are used as pregnancy tests and in follow-up assessments after treatment for hydatid mole and choriocarcinoma.
The hormone produced by a human embryo at the time of implantation.