In Vitro Bacterial Contamination of Amniotic Fluid: Effects on Fluorescence Polarization LungMaturity Testing

[摘要] Objective:We sought to determine the effect of bacteria on fluorescence polarization (FPOL) testing of amniotic fluid.Methods:Fusobacterium necrophorumandEscherichia coliwere inoculated at concentrations of103and106/ml in amniotic-fluid specimens from 4 patients with no clinical or laboratory evidence of infection. The FPOL results were obtained at inoculation and again at 24 h of incubation. The results were compared using analysis of variance (ANOVA).Results:The FPOL results from inoculated specimens were all within 2% of the uninoculated controls. The specimens incubated with bacteria showed a < 1–19% variation when compared with the time-zero uninoculated controls. However, uninoculated controls incubated for 24 h exhibited a 2–12% variation when compared with the time-zero controls, suggesting that the variation present was not secondary to the bacterial co-incubation.Conclusions:In vitro, neither bacterial inoculation nor prolonged co-incubation influences FPOL results beyond the effect of incubation alone. FPOL appears to be an appropriate test to assess fetal lung maturity in patients in whom intraamniotic infection is a concern.

[学科分类] 妇产科学