Word: f2
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...result of uncommon-sense reasoning, doctors are inducing early abortions with prostaglandin F2 alpha, a hormone-like substance derived from semen. The prostaglandins are a class of chemicals, 16 of which have now been isolated, that were originally believed to be secreted in the prostate gland. The first were found in human semen, which is still the richest source known. Now prostaglandins are known to occur in many other human tissues and in menstrual fluid. They are also found in the semen of sheep, and it was from the seminal vesicles of rams that medical researchers obtained their early supplies...
...London. There, Obstetrician Gilbert M. Filshie worked with Dr. S.M.M. Karim, a biochemist, to select a prostaglandin that would induce an abortion early in pregnancy, yet produce a minimum of side effects, such as altering the blood pressure. They devised a solution containing 50 micro-grams of PG F2 alpha per milliliter, and infused it into the veins of 15 women who were from nine to 22 weeks pregnant. The amount was tiny: only one milliliter (one-fifth of a teaspoonful) per minute. The infusion was continued until uterine contractions brought about a complete abortion...
Their experience is too limited, the researchers concede, for them to recommend routine use of prostaglandins for abortion, and they urge a more extensive trial. (Dr. Marc Bygdeman is already using F2 at Stockholm's Karolinska Institute.) But, they suggest, the technique could eliminate most of the risks in surgical abortion, notably infection and damage to the uterus. Perhaps equally important, when the technique of PG abortion is simplified and improved, it is likely to be more acceptable than surgery-both emotionally and aesthetically-to many women...