Fetal nucleated red blood cells in maternal peripheral blood and gestational age

Abstract

The theory that blood cells are transported between mother and fetus has been verified and inherited diseases can be diagnosed from fetal cells isolated from maternal peripheral blood. A total of 61 healthy pregnant women aged 21–35 years who were between the 11th and 34th weeks of pregnancy and who had not experienced any pregnancy complication such as serious anemia were enrolled in the study. Density gradient centrifugation was used to isolate the mononuclear cell layer from maternal blood and a fluorescence-activated cell sorter was used to isolate and enrich the nucleated red blood cell (NRBC) population. These procedures were performed to improve the sensibility and specificity of CD71+ cell detection and determine the value of these cells in prenatal diagnosis. An Olympus fluorescent microscope and an ordinary microscope were used for the observation. (excerpt)