| Research Abstract |
During pregnancy, high estrogen levels had thought to protect the maternal bone and bone resorption to be prohibited. and after delivery, low estrogen and high prolactin had thought to induce bone resorption. Our analysis of bone metabolic marker and bone mineral density, however, disclosed that bone resorption is increased during pregnancy and in the puerperium bone formation is increased. During no pregnancy, cytokines released by peripheral mononuclear cells, IL-1, IL-6 and TNF-alpha, activate the osteoclast function and induce the bone resorption. We analyzed the production of cytokines from the peripheral mononuclear cells and found that, in high estrogen levels in pregnancy, much amount of cytokines were produced. This is paradoxical phenomenon compared with nowadays estrogen dogma in bone metabolism. We must elucidate this paradoxical immune phenomenon during pregnancy.
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