[Adenosine-3', 5' -monophosphate in amniotic fluid of normal and high-risk pregnancy (author's transl)]

Transfer of information by cyclic AMP (cAMP) is an important principle of hormonal regulation. The endocrine and metabolic changes during pregnancy may result from a changed cAMP metabolism. At the beginning of systematic investigations on this complex of problems we determined the cAMP content in 111 samples of amniotic fluid from 104 pregnant women without risk symptoms between the eleventh and fortieth week of pregnancy. Up to the 20th week of pregnancy the cAMP content of the amniotic fluid remains constant (5 - 15pmol/ml) and subsequently rises (40th week: 19 - 35pmol/ml). We compared the cAMP content of 27 amniotic fluid samples from 22 risk pregnancies with the normal range which was established in this way. Higher levels of cAMP were measured in the amniotic fluid of women with hypertonic toxemia of pregnancy, gestational diabetes and intrauterine malnutrition - especially in relation to the birth weight. The various possible interpretations for this behavior must be clarified by further investigations.