INTRODUCTION The aim of this study was to investigate neutrophil elastase (NE) in amniotic fluid as a potential marker for predicting pregnancy continuation. MATERIAL AND METHODS We enrolled 34 pregnant women with bulging fetal membrane during the second trimester who underwent emergent cerclage after confirming the absence of intrauterine infection (amniotic fluid glucose ≥15 mg/dL). Amnioti...

Ingestion of amniotic fluid and placenta by rats has been shown to enhance opioid-mediated analgesia. The present studies were designed to examine the effect of several doses and volumes of placenta and amniotic fluid on tail-flick latency in rats treated with 3 mg/kg morphine. The optimal dose of amniotic fluid was found to be 0.25 ml, although 0.50 and 1.0 ml also produced significant enhance...

BACKGROUND The aims of this study were to evaluate the efficacy of current techniques for isolating mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from amniotic fluid obtained by second-trimester amniocentesis as well as to determine their differentiation potential. METHODS We collected 50 samples of amniotic fluid by second-trimester amniocentesis. To obtain MSCs from amniotic fluid, the fluid was cultured u...

The fetal intestinal mucosa is characterized by elevated Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) expression, which can lead to the development of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC)--a devastating inflammatory disease of the premature intestine--upon exposure to microbes. To define endogenous strategies that could reduce TLR4 signaling, we hypothesized that amniotic fluid can inhibit TLR4 signaling within the ...

Intramembranous absorption increases during intra-amniotic infusion of physiological saline solutions. The increase may be due partly to the concomitant elevation in fetal urine production as fetal urine contains a stimulator of intramembranous absorption. In this study, we hypothesized that the increase in intramembranous absorption during intra-amniotic infusion is due, in part, to dilution o...

The presence of contaminating maternal cells in amniotic fluid is an important, though infrequent, cause of error in karyotyping the fetus. A method of detecting contaminating maternal cells in amniocentesis specimens by determining the HLA phenotype of the cells of amniotic fluid and the mother is described. Tissue typing of 15 amniocentesis specimens was performed, and in 14 cases the fetal o...

stem cells, the last of which can be obtained from fetal tissues, including amniotic fluid [5]. Analyses of human amniotic fluid have been used as safe and reliable screening tools for fetal genetic and congenital diseases for many years [6]. Amniotic fluid contains cells originating from both embryonic and extraembryonic tissues (amnion, placenta, fetus skin, and respiratory, gastrointestinal,...

We developed a new method for an objective assessment of the meconium content in amniotic fluid. By establishing a standard scale through a serial dilution of a known amount of meconium into the amniotic fluid, we developed a new method "mecometer" that can objectively measure the meconium content in meconium-stained amniotic fluid samples. The objectivity and reliability of this mecometer were...

We describe an enzymatic method for measuring phosphatidylglycerol (PG) at concentrations as low as 0.2 mumol/L in amniotic fluid. Amniotic fluid (1.5 mL) is centrifuged at 10,000g for 20 min to obtain a lamellar body pellet, which is reconstituted with 0.5 mL of buffer. The PG is measured by a two-step enzymatic scheme. Recovery studies demonstrated that the pellet contains > 97% of the PG pre...