We studied the effects of spinal intrathecal fentanyl on oxytocin secretion in 20healthy women prior to an elective caesarean delivery at term under spinal anaesthesia. The women were randomly allocated into two groups with respect to spinal anaesthesia. Group I (n = 10) received intrathecal bupivacaine (15mg) plus fentanyl (25μg), and Group II (n = 10) received intrathecal bupivacaine (15mg) alone, prior to caesarean section. The two groups were comparable demographically. Altogether, ten samples of 4.5ml of blood (taken every 60 s) were obtained before and ten samples were obtained after the intrathecal administration of the drug and establishment of the T6 block, and plasma oxytocin concentrations were assayed for each subject. Oxytocin was measured by RIA. We found no significant differences in plasma oxytocin concentrations of individual subjects before and after intrathecal injection. In addition, there were no significant differences in plasma oxytocin concentrations between the two groups when pooled samples from the subjects were compared for the pre- and post-intrathecal injection phases. We conclude that the spinal intrathecal administration of fentanyl does not suppress oxytocin secretion in pregnant women who are not in labour at term.
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Research Article|
September 14 2001
Effect of intrathecal fentanyl on oxytocin secretion in pregnant women not in labour
K.U. SHIBLI;
K.U. SHIBLI
*Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Hull Maternity Hospital, Hedon Road, Hull HU9 5LX, U.K.
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A.R. DHILLON;
A.R. DHILLON
†Department of Anaesthetics, Hull Maternity Hospital, Hedon Road, Hull HU9 5LX, U.K.
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J.A. GOODE;
J.A. GOODE
‡MAFF Welfare and Behaviour Laboratory, Department of Neurobiology, The Babraham Institute, Babraham Hall, Cambridge CB2 4AT, U.K.
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C.L. GILBERT;
C.L. GILBERT
‡MAFF Welfare and Behaviour Laboratory, Department of Neurobiology, The Babraham Institute, Babraham Hall, Cambridge CB2 4AT, U.K.
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J.W. THOMPSON;
J.W. THOMPSON
§Department of Mathematics, University of Hull, Cottingham Road, Hull HU6 7RX, U.K.
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I.F. RUSSELL;
I.F. RUSSELL
†Department of Anaesthetics, Hull Maternity Hospital, Hedon Road, Hull HU9 5LX, U.K.
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S.W. LINDOW
*Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Hull Maternity Hospital, Hedon Road, Hull HU9 5LX, U.K.
Correspondence: Mr S. W. Lindow.
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
April 23 2001
Accepted:
June 14 2001
Online ISSN: 1470-8736
Print ISSN: 0143-5221
The Biochemical Society and the Medical Research Society © 2001
2001
Clin Sci (Lond) (2001) 101 (4): 415–419.
Article history
Received:
April 23 2001
Accepted:
June 14 2001
Citation
K.U. SHIBLI, A.R. DHILLON, J.A. GOODE, C.L. GILBERT, J.W. THOMPSON, I.F. RUSSELL, S.W. LINDOW; Effect of intrathecal fentanyl on oxytocin secretion in pregnant women not in labour. Clin Sci (Lond) 1 October 2001; 101 (4): 415–419. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/cs1010415
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