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Pregnancy
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my personal edition > pregnancy > news
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DGNews
Endocannabinoid Levels in Pregnant Women Linked to Risk of Miscarriage
LEICESTER, United Kingdom -- March 24, 2008 -- A medical team from the University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom, has been able to establish for the first time a predictor for pregnant women who may have miscarriages and those who won't. Their research is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The researchers measured the levels of anandamide, an endocannabinoid, in women who presented with a threatened miscarriage. They found that those who at the time of the test had significantly higher levels of anandamide subsequently miscarried.
Study author Professor Justin Konje, Head, Endocannabinoid Research Group, Reproductive Sciences Section, Department of Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine, University of Leicester, noted, "We are extremely excited by these findings. Essentially, we have for the first time been able to use the levels of this naturally occurring cannabis, anandamide, in 45 women presenting with threatened miscarriage and a viable pregnancy to predict the eventual outcome of the pregnancy. Using a threshold we defined from this study, we were able to predict all the women who then went on to have a subsequent miscarriage and 94% of those who went on to have a live birth.
"This is the first time that this has been reported. It has very significant implications, and if the results are replicated, we would eventually be able to reassure women who present with bleeding in early pregnancy about the outcome of their pregnancies.
"Obviously for those whose pregnancies are identified by this measurement as destined to end in a miscarriage, knowing this may cause grief and upset, but it may also help them to come to terms quickly with the outcome of the pregnancies.
"This is the first stage of this study, but the results are very encouraging, and we are undertaking further studies to confirm our observations. Once these are confirmed, we plan to develop a bedside test which could then be applied in clinical practice."
In the paper, the authors state that approximately 40% to 50% of all human conceptions are lost before 20 weeks of gestation. They conclude: "In this pilot study of women with threatened miscarriage, high plasma anandamide level was associated with subsequent miscarriage. The study is limited by the small number of participants and requires replication in larger and more diverse populations. Compared with tests based on peripheral blood mononuclear cells, anandamide-level measurement has an advantage of being based on whole blood and not requiring separation. If established as valid and clinically practical, anandamide measurement has the potential for improving the prediction and counselling of women presenting with threatened miscarriages."
The study was funded by income from the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and by PerkinElmer through a grant to support the Endocannabinoid Research Laboratory of Professor Konje. The British United Provident Association Foundation funded some of the consumables used for the laboratory analysis.
SOURCE: University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
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