A1: CORE SUPPORT: BIOL ELECTRON MICROSCOPE, BIOTECH MOLEC BIOL, COMPUTER NETWORK

早产是少数人的一个主要健康问题。 这个国家的人口。他们有更高的发病率 早产，这与社会经济地位或 产前护理。心理社会成本很高，但护理成本 仅对新生儿来说就超过50亿美元。其主要原因是 非裔美国人人口中的早产是指早产 胎膜早破。宫内感染是 一些但不是所有这些出生的原因，以及其他特发性 机制必须发生。这项提议的目标是。寻求 动脉破裂前局限性结缔组织的变化 并确定人胎儿胎膜是否存在程度 这种变化与不同程度的早产有关。 夏威夷四个不同种族的胎儿破裂和出生： 美国黑人、夏威夷人、菲律宾人和高加索人。第一 具体目的是定位胎儿结缔组织的变化 通过定量检测KEY的基因表达 胶原酶、激活剂和激素参与 该系统在四个区域的刺激表达相对于 胎盘的位置。在形态上截然不同的区域 将通过定量图像分析寻找破裂部位，并 酶的定量原位杂交组织化学， 参与细胞周胶原溶解的激活剂和激素。这个 第二个特定目标将量化这些局部连接词 夏威夷四个民族的组织变化及其与 胎盘早产早破发生率分别为 这些组中的膜。到目前为止，还没有任何研究 使用代表不同种族的妇女的胎膜 试图科学地解释这一非凡现象的团体或尝试 早产早产与早产的差异 这些膜的。

Preterm delivery is a major health problem in the minority populations in this country. They have' a greater incidence of preterm birth, which is not related to socioeconomic status or prenatal care. The psychosocial costs are high, but the cost in care to the newborns alone is more than $5 billion. The major cause of preterm birth in the Afro-American population is the preterm premature rupture of the fetal membranes. Intrauterine infection is a cause for some but not all of these births, and other idiopathic mechanisms must occur. The goal of this proposal is. to seek localized connective tissue changes preceding the rupture of the human fetal membranes and to determine whether the degree of such changes is related to the differing degrees of premature rupture and birth in four different ethnic groups in Hawaii: Afro-American, Hawaiian, Filipino and Caucasian. The first specific aim is to locaIize connective tissue changes in the fetal membranes by quantitating the gene expression of key collagenolytic enzymes, an activator and a hormone involved in stimulating expression of this system in four zones relative to the position of the placenta. A morphologically distinct zone near the rupture site will be sought by quantitative image analysis and quantitative in situ hybridization histochemistry for the enzymes, activator and hormone involved in pericellular collagenolysis. The second specific aim will quantitate these localized connective tissue changes in four ethnic groups in Hawaii and relate these to the respective incidence of preterm premature rupture of the membranes in these groups. There have been no studies to date using fetal membranes from women representing different ethnic groups or attempts to scientifically explain the remarkable differences in preterm birth due to the preterm premature rupture of these membranes.