RESUMO
Amniotic fluid samples were collected from four carefully selected groups of pregnant women, respectively, presented as followed [but none with any evidence of intrauterine infection]: Group I, term pregnancy not in labor; group II, normal term labor; group III, preterm labor and undelivered within one week of sampling and group IV, preterm labor and delivered within one week of sampling. Amniotic fluid was obtained by amniocentesis [in undelivered women] or at the time of amniotomy [in delivered women]. The samples were cultured to detect any intrauterine infection. Interleukin-6 [IL-6] was determined by a specific enzyme-linked immunoassay. The mean [ +/- SD] amniotic fluid IL-6 levels [pg/ml] were 25.5 +/- 6.2 in group I, 504 +/- 60.6 in group II, 45 +/- 15.1 in group III and 406 +/- 100.7 in group IV. However, insignificant difference in the IL-6 levels was found between the women of group II and group IV, a significant difference was noticed in the IL-6 levels between the undelivered [groups I and III] and delivered [groups II and IV] women whether in term or preterm labor. Therefore, it was concluded that the determination of IL-6 level in amniotic fluid may help in the prognosis and management of preterm labor