POLYACRYLAMIDE GEL ELECTROPHORESIS OF AMNIOTIC FLUID CHOLINESTERASES: A GOOD PRENATAL TEST FOR NEURAL TUBE DEFECTS

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The qualitative assay of the cholinesterases (ChE) in amniotic fluid on polyacrylamide gel gave a single major band (cholinesterase) in all samples from normal pregnancies, and 2 major bands (cholinesterase and acetylcholinesterase) in all cases from fetuses with open neural tube defects. Five fluids which were true false positive on .alpha.-fetoprotein (AFP) assay (elevated AFP in a clear fluid but normal fetus) had a single band, and 2 fluids which were false negative on AFP testing (normal AFP but spina bifida fetus) had 2 bands. The second diagnostic ChE band sometimes occurred, together with other extra bands, in some fluids which were very severely contaminated by maternal or fetal blood, but in 4 of 6 fluids from normal fetuses where fetal blood staining was sufficient to cause the AFP to be elevated, there was only 1 ChE band. The qualitative assay of ChE should be performed in addition to AFP in the prenatal diagnosis of neural tube defects.