OESTRIOL CONJUGATES IN AMNIOTIC FLUID. QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE ASPECTS, INCLUDING PRELIMINARY STUDIES IN Rh ISOIMMUNIZATION

Abstract

ABSTRACT In addition to oestriol-16-glucosiduronate (OE3-16Gl), oestriol-3-sulphate (OE3-3S) and oestriol-3-sulphate, 16-glucosiduronate (OE3-3S,16Gl), a fourth conjugate, oestriol-3-glucosiduronate (OE3-3Gl), was tentatively identified in human late pregnancy amniotic fluid. A method was developed for the determination of all four conjugates in amniotic fluid and analyses were carried out on 11 normal samples and on six samples obtained in pregnancies complicated by mild Rh isoimmunization. The concentrations and proportions of these oestriol conjugates in normal amniotic fluid were: OE3-16Gl: 847 μg/l (61 %), OE3-3S: 245 μg/l (16%), OE3-3S,16Gl: 195 μg/l (14%) and OE3-3Gl: 134 μg/l (9%). In mild Rh isoimmunization the pattern of oestriol conjugates did not differ significantly from normal.