BACKGROUND Myocardial dysfunction occurs in a variety of fetal disorders. Findings from adult cardiology, where n-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (nt-proBNP) is an established biomarker of left ventricular dysfunction have been extended to fetal life. Since fetal blood sampling is technically challenging we investigated amniotic fluid nt-proBNP for its suitability to diagnose fetal myoc...

AIMS During pregnancy, the placenta produces a variety of steroid hormones and proteins. Several of these substances have been shown to exert immunomodulatory effects. Progesterone is thought to mediate some of these effects by regulating uterine responsiveness. The aim of this study was to clarify the effect of amniotic fluid transferrin and its N-glycans on the release of progesterone by firs...

Congenital heart defects are the most common birth defect. The limiting factor in tissue engineering repair strategies is an autologous source of functional cardiomyocytes. Amniotic fluid contains an ideal cell source for prenatal harvest and use in correction of congenital heart defects. This study aims to investigate the potential of amniotic fluid-derived stem cells (AFSC) to undergo non-vir...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS Otoacoustic emissions have frequently been used for newborn hearing screening. However, they have low specificities and high referral rates. The presence of amniotic fluid in the middle ear is one reason for these problems. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of human amniotic fluid on otoacoustic emissions and on middle-ear function. METHODS Forty-six chi...

Aim. The aim of this study is to investigate whether amniotic fluid leptin and insulin levels can be used for prediction of for prediction of gestational diabetes mellitus or not. Methods. The levels of leptin and insulin were measured in the samples of amniotic fluid which were obtained at 16-20 weeks of pregnancy during genetic amniocentesis. We recorded the patients who developed gestational...

Both amniotic fluid and urine of newborns contain .hydroxyproline, an amino-acid related to the collagen metabolism and particularly the collagen matrix. Phases of rapid growth of the human body are accompanied by a high collagen turnover resulting in an increased excretion of hydroxyproline in the urine, whereas malnourishment and retarded growth lead to a diminished output [11,15]. In normal ...

BACKGROUND Stem cells isolated from amniotic fluid are known to be able to differentiate into different cells types, being thus considered as a potential tool for cellular therapy of different human diseases. In the present study, we report a novel single step protocol for the osteoblastic differentiation of human amniotic fluid cells. RESULTS The described protocol is able to provide osteobl...

OGAWA, Y. Fetal Pulmonary Surfactant in Amniotic Fluid of Ewes. Tohoku J. exp. Med., 1972, 108 (4), 307-315-The phospholipids in the amniotic fluid from healthy pregnant ewes at various stages of gestation were analyzed in relation to the fetal pulmonary surfactant. The most abundant phospholipid was phosphatidylcholine which increased as the term approached. Analysis on the positional specific...