amnionic fluid

Correlation of measured amnionic fluid volume to sonographic and magnetic resonance predictors.

23) Evidence that prostaglandins participate in the mechanisms of labor in humans stems from the fact that (1) abortion and labor result from administration of prostaglandins, (2) inhibitors of prostaglandins delay the onset of labor and can arrest preterm labor, (3) elevated prostaglandins are found in amniotic fluid and maternal plasma at term deliveries, (4) prostaglandin precursors, arachidonic acid, are increased in the amnionic fluid during labor, and (5) labor results from intraamnionic administration of arachidonic acid.

These findings may be confirmed or refuted by DNA analysis of amnionic fluid or fetal blood.

It measures the amnionic fluid surfactants and albumin, expressing the test result as a ratio between these materials.

Recent medical advances have made it possible to determine the sex of a baby earlier than the fifth month of gestation, by either testing fetal chromosomes removed from the placenta at three months gestation, or by testing the amnionic fluid at the fourth month of pregnancy.