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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Dec 1.
Published in final edited form as: Expert Opin Ther Targets. 2016 Aug 4;20(12):1397–1412. doi: 10.1080/14728222.2016.1216980

Figure 1.

Figure 1

A schematic representation of term and preterm pathways.

1A: Fetal signals of organ maturation and fetal tissue senescence can cause an inflammatory oxidative stress response in the intrauterine tissues, activating various pro-labor mediators like prostaglandins and endothelins to cause labor associated changes.

1B: These signals are prematurely replaced by maternal-fetal risk exposures to drive the mechanistic pathways to cause spontaneous preterm labor and or pPROM.