Abstract: | An ion exchange chromatographic technique was used to study the content of 18 free amino acids in the amniotic fluid of women with physiological and complicated pregnancy. The amino acid spectrum of amniotic fluid in placental insufficiency was found to be characterized by the lower content of arginine, serine, glycine, alanine, cysteine, tyrosine, phenylalanine, and glutamine, which are involved in many metabolic processes required to maintain biochemical homeostasis during gestation. There was an opposite tendency for dicarboxylic amino acids and histidine, the levels of which increased, by enhancing nitrogen imbalance. The degree of the found impairments of a number of amino acids considerably increased in case of birth of babies with brain lesions, which permits use of their amniotic fluid determination to predict the neonatal status. |