Ingestion of amniotic fluid and placenta by rats has been shown to enhance opioid-mediated antinociception but not affect the nonopioid-mediated antinociception produced by aspirin, suggesting specificity for opioid-mediated processes. However, enhancement by the active substance(s) in amniotic fluid and placenta (POEF, for placental opioid-enhancing factor) of antinociception produced by other...

Growth hormone (GH) and prolactin (PRL) in maternal and fetal serum and amniotic fluid were measured simultaneously by radioimmunoassay at term deliveries of 20 normal mothers. The PRL level of amniotic fluid was significantly higher than that of maternal and fetal serum. The fetal GH level was significantly higher than the maternal and amniotic levels of GH. There was no significant correlatio...

Studies using in vitro analysis have shown that the interaction between pulmonary surfactant and vernix caseosa could explain the appearance of amniotic fluid turbidity. That phenomenon is interpreted based on the "roll-up" hypothesis. We tested the roll-up hypothesis by examining the presence of micelles of pulmonary surfactant in human amniotic fluid at term. Amniotic fluid samples were colle...

The determination of enzyme levels in cell-free amniotic fluid has proven useful in assessing fetal maturity and fetal well being, and is being utilized for the prenatal diagnosis of genetic disorders. The activities of amylase, alpha-galactosidase, phosphatidic acid phosphohydrolase, lysozyme and heat-stable alkaline phosphatase in amniotic fluid increase with gestational age and have an estab...

Swallowing of amniotic fluid and lung fluid inflow were eliminated in 10 chronically instrumented fetuses. The urachus was ligated, and fetal was urine drained to the outside. At the beginning and the end of 21 experiments of 66 +/- 5 (SE) h duration, all amniotic fluid was temporarily drained to the outside for volume measurement and sampling. Amniotic fluid osmolalities and oncotic pressures ...

The first reported use of fetal membrane as skin substitute was by Davis in 1910. 1 In 1913, Salbella presented the first clinical report of successful use of amniotic membrane in the treatment of burns and skin ulcerations. 2 In 1940, DeRoth reported the use of amniotic membrane in the repair of conjuctival defects. From 1940 to 1965 a number of clinical trials of successful use of amniotic me...

to study changes in concentrations of some biochemical factors of amniotic fluid, 115 normal goat uteri at different stages of pregnancy were collected from slaughterhouse. after expelling of each fetus accompanied by fetal membranes, 10 ml amniotic fluid was taken from amniotic sac for biochemical analysis. then approximate ages of fetuses were calculated by using age estimation formula. at fi...

results mode of delivery, nicu admission neonatal death and induction of labor. oligohydramnious is associated with a high rate of pregnancy complications and increased perinatal morbidity and mortality. women with oligohydramnious usually have low-birth babies. conclusion however, we can expect a safe and good outcome for pregnant women with oligohydramnious, should proper fetal surveillance a...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Prenatal exposure to asymptomatic doses of domoic acid (DA) causes learning and memory deficits later in life; therefore, we sought to measure distribution of DA in maternal plasma and brain, prenatal brain, and amniotic fluid 1 hr after exposure, a time frame that normally encompasses acute seizure behavior. METHODS Pregnant rats were given a single intravenous dose...

CONTEXT No molecular biological tests are available to monitor the ongoing development of human fetuses in vivo. OBJECTIVE To determine whether cell-free fetal messenger RNA (mRNA) in amniotic fluid can be detected using oligonucleotide microarrays to study large-scale gene expression in living human fetuses, with analysis of sex, gestational age, and fetal pathology as variables. DESIGN, S...