FETAL HYPOPITUITARISM - PERINATAL ENDOCRINE AND MORPHOLOGICAL-STUDIESIN 2 CASES

We report two infants with congenital absence of the anterior pituitar y gland, documented by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or autopsy. In cord plasma obtained at birth from both infants, prolactin (PRL), pit uitary growth hormone (hGH), placental growth hormone (hPGH) and thyro tropin (TSH) were undetectable; cortisol was low; thyroxine (T-4) was 31 nmol/l in one infant and 85 nmol/l in the other infant who had been treated prenatally with intra-amniotic L-T-4 administration. In mater nal plasma at birth, PRL, hPGH and T-4 were normal and hGH was undetec table. These observations suggest that plasma hGH and PRL in the fetus are exclusively of fetal pituitary origin, hPGH is secreted into the maternal circulation and is not transferred to the fetus and fetal gro wth can be normal in the absence of hGH, hPGH and PRL in fetal plasma.