ABSTRACT
Lysozyme activity was m,easured in amniotic fluid samples from 90 pregnant women with gestacional age ranging from 30 to 41 weeks. Twenty-nine samples were from high-risk subjects with different pathologies and signs of fetal distress. The control group consisted of 20 normal and 41 pathological pregnant women, whose disorders included Rh isoimmunization, diabetes, systemic arterial hypertension and pre-eclampsia without signs of fetal distress. amniotic fluid lysozyme levels in normal controls were similar to those detected in abnormal pregnant women without signs of fetal distress (x = 156.0 vs 131.8 microng/ml for 43-37 weeks of gestation), with a tendency toward higher values as pregnancy progressed to term in high-risk pregnant women with signs of fetal distress, regardless of neonate birth weight, than in subjects showing no such sugns (x = 40.3 and x = 25.4 microng/ml at 34-41 weeks of gestation, respectively). These data support the possibility of using amniotic fluid lysosyme activity levels as an indicator of fetal distress