New research from the US has found a link between preterm births where the water sac around the baby breaks prematurely, and bacteria near where the walls of the sac are thinner.
The researchers, including Amy P. Murtha, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Duke University School of Medicine, report their work in a recent online issue of PLOS ONE.
Prof. Murtha says:
"Complications of preterm births can have long-term health effects for both mothers and children. Our research focuses on why the fetal membranes, or water sac, break early in some women, with the overall goal of better understanding the mechanisms of preterm membrane rupture."
She and her colleagues caution that the study only establishes a link between bacteria and early rupturing, and that more research is needed to determine if one causes the other.
Water sac comprises the amnion and the chorion
The water sac comprises two transparent membranes that hold the embryo, and later the fetus, as it grows until just before birth.
The inner membrane, the amnion, contains the amniotic fluid and the fetus, while the outer membrane, the chorion, contains the amnion and is part of the placenta.
Nearly a third of early deliveries are associated with water breaking, in what is referred to as premature preterm rupture of membranes (PPROM).
In earlier work, Prof. Murtha and colleagues had shown infection is linked to a higher rate of cell death in the chorion.
Women who experience PPROM tend to have thinner chorions
They found that women who experience PPROM tend to have a thinner chorion layer, and those with chorioamnionitis, where this layer is infected, had the highest rate of chorion cell deaths.
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