In plain words
Human placental lactogen, or hPL, is a hormone the placenta begins making early in pregnancy. Levels rise steadily, in step with the size of the placenta, until birth. It helps prepare the breasts for milk and helps send more glucose and fat to the baby. It does this partly by making the mother's body less responsive to insulin, a change called . This is normal. For most pregnancies the change is how the baby gets enough fuel. Some mothers develop when the body cannot make enough extra insulin to keep up. hPL is measured in research but is not part of routine testing. Your provider checks blood sugar with other tests, such as an oral glucose challenge.
The deeper version
hPL, the product of the CSH1 gene, is a placental somatomammotropin structurally related to growth hormone and . Circulating levels rise with placental mass through gestation and fall quickly after delivery. It acts on lactogenic and metabolic receptors, promoting lipolysis, reducing peripheral insulin sensitivity, and contributing to mammary development. Lain and Catalano (Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2007) describe the placental hormone set, including hPL, placental growth hormone, progesterone, cortisol, and prolactin, as producing a fall of roughly 50 to 60 percent in peripheral insulin sensitivity by the third trimester. Measurement of hPL has no routine clinical role. Its relative contribution to gestational diabetes, compared with the other placental hormones, has not been separated in human studies.
Where it comes up
- Gestational diabetesPregnancy: Your Body
- Eating with gestational diabetesPregnancy: Eating
- Weight gain in pregnancyPregnancy: Your Body
What mothers here say about human placental lactogen
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Sources
- Lain KY, Catalano PM — Metabolic changes in pregnancy. Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2007