Amniotic lamellar body count and congenital diaphragmatic hernia in humans and in a rat model.

We examined the extent of fetal lung hypoplasia and lung maturation using the amniotic lamellar body count (LBC) in congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH). We obtained 30 amniotic fluid samples from human CDH cases during cesarean section. We assessed LBC, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and ultrasound findings for predicting the prognosis of CDH. We collected newborn amniotic fluid and lung tissue at embryonic day (E)21 from normal and nitrofen-induced CDH rats (administered 100 mg orally at E9). Amniotic LBCs in rats were measured using light microscopy. In human CDH, LBC was significantly higher in the surviving than in the deceased group (P < 0.01). A significant positive correlation was observed between LBC and percentage of fetal lung volume on MRI (P < 0.001; r = 0.716). In rats, LBC was significantly higher in controls than in CDH rats (P < 0.01) and correlated with fetal lung weight. We conclude that LBC is useful for predicting lung hypoplasia in human CDH after 35 gestational weeks and in a rat model of nitrofen-induced CDH.