Pregnancy: hyperemesis finally explained - IMPORTANT: To stop your posts to be hidden by the flag trollers, just post on https://busy.org/

camillesteemer (12)in #health • 6 years ago

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Pregnancy: hyperemesis finally explained

Carrying a child is a wonderful thing. Yet sometimes pregnancy becomes a nightmare. And it can even become risky for those women with extreme nausea and vomiting. So researchers looked into the issue and identified a protein responsible for hyperemesis.

Almost all pregnant women go through a period of morning sickness. For some of them, these nauseas - and the resulting vomiting - can take a dramatic turn and threaten the health of the baby and the mother-to-be. Fortunately for them, researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles, USA, today announce that they have put their finger on the responsible potential: a protein known by specialists as the growth factor-15 and differentiation (GDF15).

According to the studies, less than 3% of women suffer from this condition called hyperemesis gravidarum (HG). It is characterized by nausea and violent daily vomiting. To such an extent that it becomes difficult for these women to eat or drink anything without vomiting in the process. Hence a significant risk of dehydration and malnutrition . Not to mention sleep disorders , abdominal pain and significant fatigue caused by the situation.

"Weight loss of up to 10% in the most severe cases.

This strange pathology made headlines a few months ago. Kate Middleton indeed suffers from HG. So everyone went there from his assumptions. Some gynecologists believe that the pathology affects essentially psychologically fragile women. Others incriminate hormones more readily.

Women with gestational hyperemesis can lose up to 10% of their weight. Hospitalization becomes unavoidable. © pololia, Fotolia

GDF15 as main responsible

But this time, thousands of women's genomes have been screened to identify the culprit. And on the dock, the researchers placed the gene that codes for the production of GDF15. With the accomplice a gene associated with the production of another protein called IGFBP7. According to the animal model, these proteins play a role in particular in the development of the placenta and in the regulation of appetite .

Another study published last year had already pointed to higher rates of GDF15 in the blood of pregnant women reporting vomiting in the second trimester. And a team had also noted the abnormal presence of this protein more generally in the blood of patients with persistent nausea and severe vomiting. Inhibition of the GDF15 receptor, on the other hand, seems to cure mice of nausea induced by chemotherapy .

Would the solution for women with HG be found? Not quite, warn the researchers. Because the exact role of the protein during pregnancy remains unclear. Reduced rates of GDF15 in the blood of the expectant mother would even be associated with miscarriages . But at least one way has been opened ...

This article appeared first on https://www.futura-sciences.com/sante/actualites/grossesse-grossesse-hyperemese-enfin-expliquee-70615/
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