Regulation of eicosanoid production in the fetal placenta in preterm labour

前列腺素是体内产生的脂肪物质，它们导致怀孕的子宫收缩并将胎儿排出体外。目前，我们无法控制早产，因为我们对前列腺素合成是如何控制的还不够了解。我们实验室的新发现提出了一种令人兴奋的新可能性--前列腺素部分调节自己的合成。如果我们发现是这样的话，可能会对抗炎药物的使用方式产生深远的影响，不仅是在预防早产方面，在炎症性疾病方面也是如此。这一领域的大多数研究都是为了了解是什么控制了前列腺素的整体合成，但有几种类型的前列腺素具有不同的功能。我们现在首次能够研究特定前列腺素的合成在怀孕的子宫中是如何调节的，以及在正常和早产期间这种合成是如何变化的。

Prostaglandins are fatty substances made within the body and they are what causes the pregnant uterus to contract and push out the fetus. At present we can't control preterm birth because we don't understand well enough how prostaglandin synthesis is controlled. New discoveries in our lab have suggested an exciting new possibility- that prostaglandins partially regulate their own synthesis. If we find this is so, there may be far-reaching implications for the ways in which anti-inflammatory drugs are used, not only in prevention of premature birth, but in inflammatory diseases too. Most research in this area has been directed toward understanding what controls the overall synthesis of prostaglandins, but there are several types of prostaglandins with different functions. we are now in a position to study, for the first time, how the synthesis of the specific prostaglandins is regulated in the pregnant uterus and how this changes during normal and preterm birth.