Serum polyamine-oxidase activity in spontaneous abortion.

Serum polyamine oxidase activity was determined in 38 women admitted to the Maternity Department of Szombathely, Hungary with clinical signs of threatened abortion between 11 and 22 weeks gestation and who aborted spontaneously with 48 h of admission. Serum polyamine oxidase activity was found to be significantly lower in these women compared with that in women having normal pregnancies of the same gestational age. The higher polyamine oxidase levels which were found in five women who aborted during oxytocin infusion probably resulted from increased contractions expelling enzyme-rich blood from the intervillous space into the maternal circulation. Present evidence is insufficient to explain the full clinical significance of these findings.