[ noun ] a potent substance that acts like a hormone and is found in many bodily tissues (and especially in semen); produced in response to trauma and may affect blood pressure and metabolism and smooth muscle activity <noun.body>
Doctors found that misoprostol, a synthetic version of the substance prostaglandin, reduced the risk of organ rejection from 51 percent to 26 percent.
A woman takes the drug orally and two days later is given an injection or suppository of synthetic prostaglandin, which causes contractions of the uterus to ensure it has evacuated completely.
The National Right to Life Committee claimed victory, noting Dr. Willke's 1985 letter to an Upjohn executive calling on the company to stop marketing its prostaglandin products for "lethal purposes," and to halt research on abortifacients.