Progesterone concentration in placenta, molar tissue, and ovarian theca lutein cyst

Abstract

Progesterone concentrations in 2 full term normal placentas, molar tissue from 3 cases of hydatidiform mole, and ovarian tissue from a theca lutein cyst of hydatidiform mole were measured by competitive protein binding. Sephadex LH 20 column chromatographic separation of extracts from these tissues showed that, in placental and molar tissue, 85 to 95% of the extracts were progesterone and very small amounts of 20α dihydroprogesterone and 17α hydroxyprogesterone. The concentrations of progesterone in the placentas were 368.8 and 317.2 ng/g tissue, respectively, while in molar tissue the concentrations were 2474.5, 1974.6, and 4146.0 ng/g tissue, respectively. Progesterone concentration in ovarian tissue was between 1121.2 and 1440.9 ng/g tissue. It is suggested that the high concentration of progesterone in molar tissue reflects functional capacity of the abnormal trophoblast in progesterone synthesis and accumulation of progesterone due to absence of a fetus. The lower concentration of progesterone in the ovary in molar pregnancy would appear to suggest that the ovary is a secondary source of progesterone in molar pregnancy.