chorionic gonadotropin

or chorionic gonadotrophin

noun

1. Also called human chorionic gonadotropin. Biochemistry. a hormone, produced in the incipient placenta of pregnant women, that stimulates the production of estrogen and progesterone: its presence in blood or urine is an indication of pregnancy.
2. Pharmacology. a commercial form of this substance, obtained from the urine of pregnant mares, used in medicine in the treatment of testicular disorders and functional uterine bleeding, and in veterinary medicine in the treatment of cystic ovaries, especially in cows and mares.

Word History and Origins

Origin of chorionic gonadotropin¹

gonadotrop(ic) + -in ²

Example Sentences

By the 1940s, scientists had elucidated the ebbs and flows of other hormones in lab animals and humans — follicle stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone and human chorionic gonadotropin — over the course of a typical menstrual cycle.

From Science News