Effect of pregnancy on human platelet monoamine oxidase and phenolsulphotransferase M and P

Summary There were no significant changes in platelet phenolsulphotransferase M and monoamine oxidase activities in pregnant women compared with controls and women postpartum, although mean monoamine oxidase values were about 10 per cent higher during pregnancy. Platelet phenosulphotransferase P activity tended to decline during pregnancy and rose substantially postpartum. Mean values postpartum were higher than those in the pregnant group as a whole (P > 0.01) and in women during the last trimester of pregnancy (P > 0.01). If these platelet findings reflect changes elsewhere in the body, they might imply that women towards the end of pregnancy are more sensitive and women postpartum less sensitive to the action of drugs that are inactivated by sulphoconjugation.