Effect of Cortisone and ACTH on the Phospholipids of Human Amniotic Fluid and Lung Tissue in Early Gestation

Abstract

Fifteen physically healthy women who received permission for legal abortion on sociomedical grounds in the second trimester of pregnancy were given either cortisone acetate per os or adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) intramuscularly for 3 days previous to hysterotomy. Eight other patients served as controls. The phospholipid composition of amniotic fluid, fetal lung washings, and lung tissue was analyzed. In the cortisone group there was a significant increase in the proportion of palmitic acid in the lung tissue lecithins linked to a corresponding decrease in the oleic acid. A similar tendency was observed in the ACTH group, but the changes were not significant. The investigation suggests that the human fetal lung already at this early stage of development is capable of responding to the action of cortisone by a relative increase in the synthesis of dipalmitoyllecithin.

Key Words:

• ACTH
• cortisone
• lungs
• phospholipids
• respiratory distress syndrome