Acid-soluble glycoproteins in amniotic fluid and cystic fibrosis of the foetus.

We suggest that the intrauterine detection of cystic fibrosis may be based 
on the investigation of the amniotic fluid. It is known that 
the protein content of the meconium of homozygotic newborn infants is 
significantly increased, whereas that of heterozygotic infants is only moderately increased. 
As a result of intrauterine intestinal activity, the bowel content may 
be excreted into the amniotic fluid; thus a detectable deviation in 
the protein content of amniotic fluid may be expected. We decided 
to determine the total protein content and the amount of acid-soluble 
glycoproteins in 86 amniotic fluid samples, both by polography and by 
measuring the hexose content. In the homozygous case a slight increase 
was observed in total protein content, whereas in the heterozygous cases 
no changes were observed. 