S100B Protein Concentrations in Cord Blood: Correlations with Gestational Age in Term and Preterm Deliveries

Abstract

S100B is an acidic calcium-binding protein of the EF-hand family concentrated in the nervous system, where it is located mainly in glial cells (1). Although many hypotheses have been formulated, its biological role is still debated, but its appearance in biological fluids has been shown to be a reliable index of brain distress (2). We investigated the relationship between S100B concentrations in cord blood and gestational age in the third trimester of pregnancy in normal preterm and term deliveries. We investigated 58 women with consecutive singleton physiological pregnancies (30 at term and 28 preterm), with normal flow velocimetry waveforms in the uteroplacental vessels, whose delivery was between 27 and 42 weeks of gestation. Gestational age was determined by clinical data and by a first-trimester ultrasound scan. Appropriate growth was defined by the presence of ultrasonographic signs (when biparietal diameter and abdominal circumference were between the 10th and 90th centiles) according to the normograms of Campbell and Thoms (3) and by postnatal confirmation of a birth weight between the 10th and 90th centiles according to our population standards after correction for the mother’s height, weight, and parity, and the sex of the newborn. Exclusion criteria were multiple pregnancies, intrauterine growth retardation, gestational hypertension, diabetes and infections, fetal malformations, chromosomal abnormalities, perinatal asphyxia, and dystocia. The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Giannina Gaslini Children’s Hospital, Genoa University; the parents …