What causes high human chorionic gonadotropin?

After a woman becomes pregnant, her body's hormone secretion will undergo significant changes. Among them, human chorionic gonadotropin is a common type of hormone. If this hormone level is too high, you should pay attention and go to the hospital for diagnosis in time to avoid adverse effects on the health of pregnant women and fetuses. In severe cases, drug treatment should be carried out in time.

Function of human chorionic gonadotropin

1. It has the functions of FSH and LH, maintaining the life of the menstrual corpus luteum and making it enlarge into the corpus luteum of pregnancy;

2. Promotes the aromatization of androgens into estrogens and stimulates the formation of progesterone;

3. Inhibit the stimulating effect of plant lectins on lymphocytes. Human chorionic gonadotropin can be adsorbed on the surface of trophoblast cells to prevent embryonic trophoblast cells from being attacked by maternal lymphocytes;

4. It has LH-like functions. Before the fetal pituitary gland secretes LH, it stimulates the fetal testicles to secrete testosterone to promote male sexual differentiation. It can also promote gonadal development. For men, it can stimulate the activity of interstitial cells in the testicles and increase the secretion of androgen (testosterone). It is of great significance for the treatment of male patients with combined pituitary deficiency. It can not only promote gonadal development and the secretion of male hormones, but also promote the development of secondary sexual characteristics.

5. It can bind to the TSH receptors of maternal thyroid cells and stimulate thyroid activity.

Changes of human chorionic gonadotropin after fertilization

Human chorionic gonadotropin enters the maternal blood after fertilization and proliferates rapidly until the 8th week of pregnancy, then slowly decreases in concentration until the 18th to 20th week, and then remains stable. Generally, an increase in the level of human chorionic gonadotropin to at least 2.5MoM is associated with Down syndrome. However, the actual average level of complete human chorionic gonadotropin in the maternal blood of DS patients is only 1.3MoM, which cannot clearly identify DS patients. The human chorionic gonadotropin-related molecules used for DS examination are free b-hCG and high sugar hCG (H-hCG).

The levels of human chorionic gonadotropin-related molecules are also related to the sex of the fetus. The levels of human chorionic gonadotropin in baby girls are significantly higher than those in baby boys.

Complete human chorionic gonadotropin is produced entirely by the syncytiotrophoblast of the placental chorion. Human chorionic gonadotropin is produced by trophoblast transitional cells and syncytial cells. Human chorionic gonadotropin begins to be secreted 10-14 days after conception. Normally, the level of human chorionic gonadotropin will rise to 2.5MoM at most, which indicates a certain relationship with Down syndrome. However, in fact, the average level of human chorionic gonadotropin in the blood of DS patients is only 1.3MoM, and there is no way to make a clear distinction between them and DS patients.