[High resolution electrophoresis of serum aand amniotic fluid]

In a sample group of 92 women undergoing prenatal echo-guided transabdominal amniocentesis between the 12th and 23rd week of pregnancy the Authors analysed amniotic fluid and maternal serum using the recently developed method of high resolution protein electrophoresis in order to identify the presence of particular proteins in the amniotic fluid which are pathognomonic for a number of maternofetal pathologies. The results obtained in normal and pathological pregnancies or in the case of twins showed a marked dispersion in amniotic fluid of total protein concentrations depending on the period of gestation; in addition, albumin, alpha 1-antitrypsin, alpha 2-glycoprotein acid, alpha 2-macroglobulin and beta 2-protein were also found. Plasma levels of prealbumin, albumin, alpha 1-glycoprotein acid and IgG were slightly reduced, whereas there was a marked increase in ceruloplasmin, transferrin and fibrinogen; C3 and haptoglobin levels were normal. It is therefore possible to ascertain that amniotic fluid proteins analysed by high-resolution 15-band electrophoresis did not vary qualitatively or quantitatively until the 23rd week of gestation and in those cases of twin or pathological pregnancies examined no anomalous band was found in the protein electrophoresis of maternal serum or amniotic fluid which might prove useful in prenatal diagnosis.