Amniotic Fluid News and Research

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FDA flags risks linked to improper use of ROM tests

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today alerted women and their doctors about serious adverse events related to the improper use of tests intended as an aid in detecting if a pregnant woman's water has broken (also known as a rupture of the membranes containing amniotic fluid).

9 Aug 2018

Mice study shows promise for treating genetic conditions during fetal development

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Yale University have for the first time used a gene editing technique to successfully cure a genetic condition in a mouse model.

10 Jul 2018

Undetected Zika infections may be cause stillbirths and miscarriages

A collaborative study between six of the National Primate Research Centers shows pregnancy loss due to Zika A infections that don't cause women any symptoms may be a common but unrecognized cause of miscarriages and stillbirths.

2 Jul 2018

Rhesus macaque model could be useful to test therapies for congenital Zika virus syndrome

Rhesus macaque monkeys infected in utero with Zika virus develop similar brain pathology to human infants, according to a report by researchers at the California National Primate Research Center and School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis, published June 20 in Nature Communications.

21 Jun 2018

Research shows that amniotic fluid contains stem cells of kidney origin

Amniotic fluid, the liquid surrounding the fetus, can be routinely obtained without harming the mother or the baby. Previously, Prof. Dr. Adjaye's team and others demonstrated that amniotic fluid contains mesenchymal stem cells with great differentiation and regenerative potential.

7 May 2018

Researchers develop way to sequence entire fetal genome by modifying prenatal testing method

For the first time, researchers have developed a way to sequence the entire genome of a fetus by modifying the prenatal testing method known as amniocentesis.

16 Mar 2018

Changes in bacterial environment may predict risk of preterm birth

A recent study has found that changes in microbial communities within the reproductive tract of pregnant women were strongly linked to premature birth.

26 Jan 2018

Extracellular vesicles can be used to effectively delay progression of kidney damage

Researchers have demonstrated for the first time that extracellular vesicles - tiny protein-filled structures - isolated from amniotic fluid stem cells (AFSCs) can be used to effectively slow the progression of kidney damage in mice with a type of chronic kidney disease.

15 Dec 2017

University of Adelaide receives $23.2 million for preterm birth research

The University of Adelaide has been awarded $23.2 million for new research tackling some of the world's most significant health problems, including one of the biggest killers of children: preterm birth.

8 Dec 2017

Scientists develop multi-step method to harvest amniotic fluid

Amniotic fluid, the protective liquid surrounding an unborn baby, is discarded as medical waste during cesarean section deliveries.

6 Dec 2017

Artificial womb may provide avenue to improve outcomes for extremely preterm infants

An artificial womb has been successfully used to incubate healthy baby lambs for a period of one week, and researchers hope the technology will one day be able to do the same for extremely premature babies.

17 Aug 2017

Tiny lab-grown structures that resemble amniotic sac may help in infertility research

The first few weeks after sperm meets egg still hold many mysteries. Among them: what causes the process to fail, leading to many cases of infertility.

8 Aug 2017

Maternal consumption of artificially sweetened beverages during pregnancy linked to obesity in children

Children born to women who had gestational diabetes and drank at least one artificially sweetened beverage per day during pregnancy were more likely to be overweight or obese at age 7, compared to children born to women who had gestational diabetes and drank water instead of artificially sweetened beverages, according to a study led by researchers at the National Institutes of Health.

6 Jun 2017

Long-term stress for the mother can influence growth of unborn child through amniotic fluid

The feeling of constantly being on edge, always having to take care of everything, not being able to find a balance: If an expectant mother is strongly stressed over a longer period of time, the risk of the unborn child developing a mental or physical illness later in life - such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or cardiovascular disease - increases.

30 May 2017

Physical stress to mother during pregnancy can influence growth of unborn child

If the mother is stressed over a longer period of time during pregnancy, the concentration of stress hormones in amniotic fluid rises, as proven by an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Zurich. Short-term stress situations, however, do not seem to have an unfavorable effect on the development of the fetus.

29 May 2017

Study suggests Zika virus poses wider threat in human pregnancies

Zika virus infection passes efficiently from a pregnant monkey to its fetus, spreading inflammatory damage throughout the tissues that support the fetus and the fetus's developing nervous system, and suggesting a wider threat in human pregnancies than generally appreciated.

25 May 2017

Pediatric cardiology expert advises pregnant women to ask three questions about fetal ultrasounds

For pregnant women, it is standard practice to get a general fetal ultrasound between 18 to 22 weeks of pregnancy. Ultrasound scans, which use high-frequency sound waves to show images of the fetus, placenta and amniotic fluid, help the doctor see how the baby is developing and detect possible birth defects.

5 May 2017

Artificial womb could improve survival among premature babies

Researchers have designed a womb-like device that could allow premature babies to develop their lungs and organs in the critical few weeks that remain before they face the outside world.

26 Apr 2017

Exposure to EDCs alters thyroid hormone signalling, early brain development in frog embryos

Findings published today provide evidence that exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) causes changes in thyroid hormone signalling, which disturbs brain development.

13 Mar 2017

Fetal genomic sequencing could enhance detection rate of genetic findings, study shows

In a study to be presented Thursday, Jan. 26, in the oral plenary session at 8 a.m. PST, at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting, researchers with the Columbia University Medical Center in New York found that, in preliminary data, fetal genomic (whole exome) sequencing (WES) as a diagnostic test for women with pregnancies complicated by major fetal congenital anomalies increased the detection rate of genetic findings by between 10 to 30 percent.

23 Jan 2017