Human Placental Lactogen (hPL) ELISA Kit

BACKGROUND

Placental lactogen (hPL) is also referred to as human chrionic somatommotropin (HCS), it has a total molecular mass of 22,125 and is made up of 191 amino acids that contains 8 helices which are linked by two disulphide bonds. The structure and function of hPL is very similar to that of human growth hormones where it is able to modify the metabolic state of the mother during pregnancy in order to facilitate the supply of energy to the fetus. In general elevated levels during pregnany are indicative of an optimal pregnancy, however, sometimes high levels may be indicate a substantial feta pathology in specific diseases for example fetal macrosomia, hydrops fetalis, diabetes mellitus and rhesus isoimmunization.

Currently, the physiological role of hPL is not well understand but due to its similarity to human growth hormone, there are many hypotheisis regarding a possible role as a regulator of feto-placental growth as well as  other physiological alterations that are required during pregnancy. There is some suggestion that the “index of placental function” may reflect the maternal serum-level. There are also cases of depressed levels of hPL which have been linked to birth asphyxia, fetal distress in labor and intrauterine death. During a pregnancy that has proceed to full term uneventfully, it is highly unlikely that depressed levels are present.

Even though hPL is a very useful indicator of fetal growth and well-being, there are also many other fetal testing procedures which have been more reliable. There have also been reports of normal pregnancies in cases where the maternal levels of hPL are undetectable.

INTENDED USE

Human placental lactogen ELISA kit is a reliable quantitative procedure for measuring placental lactogen (hPL) in human serum samples only. This assay has a minimum sensitivity detection limit of 1.25 mg/l.

SENSITIVITY

The minimum sensitivity detection limit of placental lactogen (hPL) using this human placental lactogen ELISA kit was approximately 1.25 mg/l. The dynamic assay range for this kit is 1.25 – 20.0 mg/l.

REFERENCES

1. The roles of placental growth hormone and placental lactogen in the regulation of human fetal growth and development. J Pediatr Endocrinol Metab. (2000) 13 (4): 343-56. Review. Handwerger S. and Freemark M.
2. Use of biochemical tests of placental function for improving pregnancy outcome. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. (2015) (11): CD011202. Review. Heazell A.E., et al.
3. Maternal prenatal depression is associated with decreased placental expression of the imprinted gene PEG3. Psychol Med. (2016) 46 (14): 2999-3011. Janssen A.B., et al.
4. Forensic pregnancy diagnostics with placental mRNA markers. Int J Legal Med. (2010) 124 (1): 13-7. Gauvin J., et al.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• Full Name: Human Placental Lactogen (hPL) ELISA Kit
• Reactivity: Human
• Sample Type: Serum
• Sensitivity: 1.25 mg/l

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