NGF is released into plasma during human pregnancy: an oxytocin-mediated response?

The presence of biologically active nerve growth factor (NGF) in the peripheral circulation of women during pregnancy, labour and lactation was investigated. Using a sensitive immunoenzymatic assay (ELISA), we found an approximately five-fold increase in plasma NGF levels during labour and lactation compared with the concentrations found at the term of gestation or in control healthy women. Since labour and lactation are characterized by activation of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis and by high plasma levels of the neurohypophyseal hormone oxytocin, and since the intravenous injection of oxytocin in female rats causes a 176% increase in the hypothalamic levels of NGF, it is possible that the increased amount of circulating NGF is correlated with one or both of these events.