Amniotic Fluid Cell Exfoliation in Early Human Pregnancy

An ultrasctructural study of amniotic epithelium and fetal periderm was undertaken in order to investigate the exfoliative capacity in these tissue surfaces in early human pregnancy. Contrary to earlier reports, no exfoliation could be detected from amniotic epithelium, while a heavy detachment of cells and cell fragments was observed from fetal skin. The importance of meticulous tissue preparation is obvious; detachment phenomena are easily produced artifactually by tissue scrapings and improper tissue preparation for morphological investigations.