ABO(H) blood incompatibility as a cause of infertility: a new concept

Blood Group Antigens on Human Spermatozoa

“…Matsunaga & Hiraizumi, 1962;Behrman, Buettner-Janusch, Heglar, Gershowitz & Tew, 1960 (Weil & Rodenburg, 1960 (Weil, 1960). Antigens are evidently present on rabbit spermatozoa since those from the epididymis were agglutinated by auto-antibodies against semen (Edwards, 1960).…”

Antenatal Immunisation by the Rh Factor and ABO Blood Group Incompatibility between Mother and Child

“…The probability that Rh immunised mothers producing high titred Rh antibodies possess a specific ability to select at the cervical level conceptions which are ABO compatible ratber than ABO incompa tible as postulated among classical infertility conditions by Behrnman, Buettner-Janusch, Heglar, Gershowitz and Tew [1] and Vos [5] must remain in doubt until the incidence of immune anti-A or anti-B haemolysins can also be assessed among Rh immunised mothers. titred (1:1024 Table III evaluates the frequency of live births, neonatal deaths and stillbirths observed for the present pregnancy among ABO compatible and ABO incompatilbe mother-child combinations in re lation to the maternal antenatal response of Rh antibody production.…”

“…This paper will therefore be concerned mainly with the evaluation of the incidence of ABO in compatibility between [1] mothers and infants already immunised by the Rh factor prior to the present pregnancy and [2] those not possessing Rh antibodies at the commencement of pregnancy but who developed them subsequently.…”

Sex Ratio and Natural Selection at the Human ABO Locus

“…Studies have shown early fetal loss rates of 14-32% [Levene and Rosenfield, 1961]. The variation in fe tal loss, which is poorly understood, may be related to the presence of genetic sys tems modifying maternofetal incompati bility effects and to environmental condi tions of pregnancy [Behrman et al, 1960;Bottini et al, 1972;Hiraizumi, 1964;Kirk, 1971;Kirk et al, 1970;Maisunaga and Hiraizumi, 1962;Mourant et al, 1978;Reed, 1968;Zuelzer and Kaplan, 1954]. We use the generally accepted rate of fetal loss, 25%, in this study.…”