Ceruloplasmin and Alkaline Phosphatase Levels in Preterm Delivery

Introduction: Preterm birth (PTB) is a major determinant of neonatal mortality and morbidity. Preterm babies are prone to serious illness or death during the neonatal period. PTB is one of the unresolved problems in clinical obstetrics and one of the greatest threats to the developing fetus, there is need to determine predictive biomarker for preterm delivery. Therefore present study aimed to assess serum levels of ceruloplasmin and Alkaline phosphatase in preterm and full-term delivery.

Materials and Methods: The present study includes total 80 subjects that comprise forty women presenting with preterm onset of labor followed by delivery and forty women who delivered at term served as controls. Blood Samples from the subjects were obtained for ceruloplasmin and Alkaline phosphatase estimation, when patient was in labor. Serum ceruloplasmin and alkaline phosphatase measured spectrophotometrically. Serum ceruloplasmin was estimated by Herbert A Ravin and Henry et al. method. Serum alkaline phosphatase was estimated by Kinetic p-NPP method.

Results: Serum ceruloplasmin levels were significantly increased (P<0.001) in preterm delivery as compared to full term delivery. Alkaline phosphatase levels are significantly increased in preterm delivery (p<0.001) as compared to full term delivery.

Conclusion: Our study showed that elevated levels of ceruloplasmin and alkaline phosphatase may be associated with preterm delivery in asymptomatic pregnant women. The elevated ALP may be due to mild chronic subclinical infection which may be responsible for preterm delivery. Ceruloplasmin is acute phase reactant, increased due to an antioxidant defence mechanism against oxidative stress.