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Charge flow separation: quantification of nucleated red blood cells in maternal blood during pregnancy
Author(s) -
Wachtel Stephen S.,
Sammons David,
Twitty Garland,
Utermohlen Joe,
Tolley Elizabeth,
Phillips Owen,
Shulman Lee P.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
prenatal diagnosis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.956
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1097-0223
pISSN - 0197-3851
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0223(199805)18:5<455::aid-pd309>3.0.co;2-t
Subject(s) - nucleated red blood cell , fetus , separation (statistics) , andrology , pregnancy , blood flow , red blood cell , flow cytometry , chemistry , medicine , chromatography , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , genetics , machine learning , computer science
We set out to ascertain the numbers of fetal cells that enter the maternal blood stream during pregnancy. Samples of 15–16 ml of whole blood were collected from 225 women—mostly 10–18 weeks pregnant—and then processed by charge flow separation, a novel method based on free flow electrophoresis in a buffer counterflow gradient. After their recovery in four different separation instruments, nucleated red blood cells (NRBC) were enumerated histologically. In some cases fetal NRBC were identified and enumerated by fluorescence in situ hybridization with probes for the X and Y chromosomes and fetal haemoglobin mRNA. Recoveries were consistent among the four separation instruments: the median numbers of NRBC obtained were 4190, 1590, 2805 and 3860. Our data show that approximately 30 per cent of those cells were fetal. Thus, recent reports on the separation of fetal NRBC by other methods, give underestimates of their frequency in maternal blood. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.