[Application of carnitine to the mother--effects on phospholipids in amniotic fluid (author's transl)].

A dose of 3 g of carnitine was orally administered through 48 hours to six patients, between the 31st and 35th weeks of pregnancy, in a bid to induce foetal lung maturation. The process of foetal lung maturation proper was monitored by transabdominal amniocentesis, prior to and following medication. No increase in surfactants in the amniotic fluid was recordable by means of this method.