Altered placental and circulating levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptor (flt-1) may be associated with pre-eclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). The aim of this study was to determine whether chorionic villous VEGF or flt-1 mRNA are altered at early gestation in pregnancies subsequently found to be complicated by abnormal fetal growth. Quantitative reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction was performed on chorionic villous samples for VEGF and flt-1 using an internal RNA standard. Using the individualized birthweight ratio (IBR), the subjects ( n &equals; 51) were divided into three groups; IUGR (IBR <10th centile, n &equals; 6), normal (IBR 10th–90th centiles, n &equals; 41) and macrosomic (IBR >90th centile, n &equals; 4). There was no correlation between the mRNA expression of VEGF121 or VEGF165 and gestational age of the normal controls. There was also no difference in the expression of either of the VEGF isoforms between the IUGR or macrosomic groups and the normal controls. Expression of flt-1 was below the detection limit of the assay. In conclusion, we have found that altered chorionic villous expression of VEGF is not associated with the initial stages of development of IUGR or macrosomia.