ATRIAL-NATRIURETIC-PEPTIDE IN AMNIOTIC-FLUID

Concentrations of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) were measured in amniotic fluid and maternal plasma during normal pregnancy. Amniotic fluid samples were obtained from 12 non-laboring women during mid-gestational amniocentesis and from 9 laboring women at term during artificial rupture of the membranes. ANP concentrations in amniotic fluid were low in relation to those in plasma, although significantly higher at term than in mid-pregnancy. However the results of subsequent high-pressure-liquid-chromatography analysis suggest that ANP immunoreactivity in amniotic fluid must be attributed to other molecular forms than the main immunoreactive component of ANP present in plasma.