Background
Despite the considerable progress made in recent years in fetal assessment, the etiology of fetal growth disturbances is not as yet well understood. In an effort to enhance our knowledge in this area, we investigated the associations of the amniotic fluid angiotensinogen of the renin-angiotensin system with fetal growth abnormalities.
Discussion
Our findings suggest that fetal growth abnormalities did not correlate with differences in the amniotic fluid levels of angiotensinogen in early second trimester pregnancies. However, increased angiotensinogen levels were found to be consistent with a smaller gestational age at birth and increased BMI of neonates.
Methods
We collected amniotic fluid samples from 70 pregnant women who underwent amniocentesis during their early second trimester. Birth weight was documented upon delivery, after which the embryos corresponding to the respective amniotic fluid samples were categorized into three groups as follows: small for gestational age (SGA), appropriate for gestational age (AGA), and large for gestational age (LGA). Amniotic fluid angiotensinogen levels were determined by using ELISA kits.
Results
Mean angiotensinogen values were 3885 ng/mL (range: 1625-5375 ng/mL), 4885 ng/mL (range: 1580-8460 ng/mL), and 4670 ng/mL (range: 1995-7250 ng/mL) in the SGA, LGA, and AGA fetuses, respectively. The concentrations in the three groups were not statistically significantly different. Although there were wide discrepancies between the mean values of the subgroups, the large confidence intervals in the three groups negatively affected the statistical analysis. However, multiple regression analysis revealed a statistically significant negative correlation between the angiotensinogen levels and gestational age and a statistically significant positive correlation between the birth weight and angiotensinogen levels.