A multidisciplinary workforce of OHSU researchers collaborates to raised perceive the mechanism of amniotic fluid’s position in fetal growth. Their aim is to establish how its properties might be harnessed to handle prenatal well being issues. Credit score: Christine Torres Hicks/OHSU
Researchers at Oregon Well being & Science College have made new discoveries about amniotic fluid, a substance traditionally not properly understood in medical analysis as a result of issue in acquiring it throughout being pregnant, particularly throughout gestation.
Amniotic fluid is the important fluid that surrounds and protects a fetus throughout being pregnant. Along with offering much-needed cushion and safety for the fetus, it additionally aids in growth of important organs—particularly the lungs, digestive tract and pores and skin—and stabilizes the temperature contained in the womb.
The brand new research, printed within the journal Analysis and Apply in Thrombosis and Haemostasis, discovered that the addition of amniotic fluid to plasma—the liquid portion of blood—improves the blood’s potential to thicken and clot, which is a vital and sure a protecting perform all through being pregnant and through supply for each the birthing guardian and the child.
The mechanism of amniotic fluid’s position in fetal growth will not be properly understood and is understudied. The OHSU research is without doubt one of the first to establish how the options and properties of amniotic fluid change over time, particularly these properties that play a job in thickening the blood, and the way these adjustments can have an effect on how maternal blood coagulates. If a pregnant individual’s blood doesn’t clot correctly, it might create life-threatening issues for the fetus and birthing guardian, together with extreme bleeding throughout being pregnant and supply.
“We have always known that amniotic fluid is very important for fetal development and growth, but we don’t know much about it beyond that,” mentioned the research’s corresponding writer Jamie Lo, M.D., M.C.R., affiliate professor of obstetrics and gynecology (maternal-fetal medication) within the OHSU Faculty of Medication, and Division of Reproductive & Developmental Sciences on the Oregon Nationwide Primate Analysis Heart, or ONPRC.
“We examined amniotic fluid across the pregnancy and found that indeed the composition and proteins in the amniotic fluid do change to match the growing needs of the developing baby.”
This discovery prompted Lo and her workforce to work with scientists within the Division of Biomedical Engineering at OHSU to take a deeper dive into the potential protecting elements of amniotic fluid, and think about potential regenerative and therapeutic makes use of that may very well be developed down the highway.
The analysis concerned a multidisciplinary workforce together with Lo, Chih Jen Yang, M.D., Lyndsey Shorey-Kendrick, Ph.D., Joseph Shatzel, M.D. M.C.R., Brian Scottoline, M.D., Ph.D., and Owen McCarty, Ph.D.
Researchers analyzed the properties of amniotic fluid obtained by amniocentesis, a prenatal take a look at that entails sampling a small quantity of amniotic fluid to look at the well being of the being pregnant, from each human and non-human primates at gestational-age matched timepoints. The findings confirmed that amniotic fluid will increase blood clotting by means of key fatty acids and proteins that change every trimester and assist regulate coagulation.
With the untapped potential for amniotic fluid to help in diagnosing and treating numerous prenatal circumstances, researchers at the moment are collaborating with Sanjay Malhotra, Ph.D., professor of cell, developmental and most cancers biology within the OHSU Faculty of Medication, to focus on problems of being pregnant—together with problems that have an effect on the blood and blood-forming organs—that would profit from the protecting properties of proteins and different compounds inside amniotic fluid.
The workforce can be working with OHSU’s Fetal Care Program to gather distinctive amniotic fluid samples, together with pregnancies present process in-utero restore surgical procedures for neural tube defects, equivalent to spina bifida. The hope is that by means of finding out amniotic fluid from these pregnancies, it might be doable to find out if there are any distinctive developmental parts that could be focused for future interventions to enhance well being outcomes.
Researchers are wanting to be taught extra concerning the potential makes use of of amniotic fluid parts and the way they is perhaps harnessed to enhance prenatal and maternal well being.
“Babies born prematurely miss out on critical weeks developing within amniotic fluid,” mentioned the research’s co-senior writer Brian Scottoline, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pediatrics (neonatology), OHSU Faculty of Medication. “But if we have a better understanding of amniotic fluid, how it develops and what properties are valuable for what functions, that opens up many new possibilities for creating new therapies.”
Lo added, “Through our research, our team is learning that amniotic fluid may be a critical precursor to breast milk—almost like ‘pre-term’ milk for a fetus in utero. With that analogy, could we eventually develop a formula that’s fit for preterm babies that mimics amniotic fluid, aiding in growth and development and protecting babies from complications of being born prematurely? This is really the tip of the iceberg for what’s possible.”
Extra info:
Chih Jen Yang et al, Characterization of the procoagulant phenotype of amniotic fluid throughout gestation in rhesus macaques and people, Analysis and Apply in Thrombosis and Haemostasis (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.rpth.2024.102676
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Amniotic fluid’s protecting properties: Examine uncovers its position in blood clotting (2025, January 30)
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