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Pregnancy Test

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Abstract

Pregnant women undergo major hormonal changes during the course of pregnancy. The placenta secretes glycoprotein hormone, known as human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) shortly post-fertilization. hCG is mainly produced in a detectable amount in both urine and serum samples within 7–10 days following conception. Therefore, owing to its early release, hCG has been used as a biomarker for pregnancy. This chapter explains the principle, reagents, steps, and results interpretation of the most commonly used test for detecting pregnancy.

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Alhabbab, R.Y. (2018). Pregnancy Test. In: Basic Serological Testing. Techniques in Life Science and Biomedicine for the Non-Expert. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77694-1_13

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