[Amniotic and serum alphafetoprotein in the chick embryo with neural tube defect]

Although alpha-feto-protein (AFP) is a widely used marker for human neural tube defects (NTD) little is known about the mechanisms for its increase in the amniotic fluid in this condition. For investigating this issue we developed a chick embryo AFP assay and tested it in a NTD experimental model. AFP obtained by electroelution on PAGE/SDS gels from the plasma of 12-day-old embryos was used to produce rabbit polyclonal and mouse monoclonal antibodies. A specific sandwich-type enzyme-immune-assay was developed using both reagents. Sterile aspiration of 5 ml. of albumen from 602 fertile hen eggs on the 27th hour of incubation (Hamburger stages 8 to 11) led to the appearance of NTD in 36 out of the 270 survivors (13%). Amniotic and seric AFP levels were measured on the 15th day of incubation in NTD chicks (n = 11) and in control ones (n = 9) and the results were compared by non-parametric tests. Serum AFP was five times higher in NTD chicks than in controls (119.2 +/- 32.6 vs 523.3 +/- 173.62 micrograms/ml., p < 0.001) and amniotic AFP was absent in control and very increased in NTD animals (0.15 +/- 0.02 vs 87.14 +/- 84 micrograms/ml., p < 0.001). It is concluded that: 1) serum AFP is intriguingly increased in the chick with NTD; 2) since urine is not diversed into the amniotic sac in the avian embryo, the only source of AFP in its fluid is exudation through an open defect. This conclusion is further supported by the absence of amniotic AFP in a chick with a large closed NTD.