Abstract

Objectives: Preterm birth remains the leading cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Preterm birth is preceded by spontaneous preterm labor, which is commonly associated with sterile intra-amniotic inflammation; yet, no approved treatment exists for this clinical condition. Corticosteroids are the standard of care to improve neonatal outcomes in women at risk of preterm birth. Herein, we first validated our model of alarmininduced preterm birth. Next, we investigated whether treatment with betamethasone could prevent preterm birth resulting from sterile intra-amniotic inflammation in mice.