Erythropoietin Levels in Cord Blood as an Indicator of Intrauterine Hypoxia

Abstract

Summary The erythropoietin content in cord blood was determined from normal full term infants, fants, from infants born more than 2 weeks after term, from infants of preeclamptic, diabetic and Rh‐immunized mothers. The group of normal infants showed higher ergthropoietin levels than the premature group. Highly elevated erythropoietin levels were found in some infants in the preeclamptic, the postmature group and in the infants of diabetic mothers. The greatest frequency of increased erythropoietin levels were found in the preeclamptic group. The infants with the greatest rise in erythropoietin content often showed clinical signs of dysmaturity. Erythroblastotic infants seemed to show a rise in erythropoietin levels when capillary hemoglobin fell below 13‐11 g. The results indicate that both anemic and hypoxic hypoxia may give an increase in erythro‐poietin content, and that erythropoietin is a stimulating factor for red cell production in fetal life, at least in the last months.

Increased erythropoiesis and elevated erythropoietin in infants born to diabetic mothers and in hyperinsulinemic rhesus fetuses.

“…In a small study of eight IDM, Finne could not detect any abnormality in umbilical plasma Ep using a mouse bioassay system (18). In contrast, the present study included several infants whose Ep levels, when measured by both polycythemic mouse bioassay and radioimmunoassay, were extraordinarily high.…”

Cord Blood Erythropoietin, pH, PaO₂ and Haematocrit following Caesarean Section before Labour

“…In the human fetus, elevated Epo levels have been reported in a variety of abnormal settings, including prolonged gestation [8], pre-eclampsia [9][10][11][12], rhesus sensitisation [9,13,14] and diabetes mellitus [9,13]. Most earlier studies relied on in vivo and in vitro techniques for Epo measurement, which lack the sensitivity and specificity of recent immu nological techniques [15][16][17], The assessment of fetal asphyxia is difficult, and the value of low Apgar scores and low cord blood pH has recently been questioned [18][19][20][21], We mea sured Epo in serum from human newborn babies following Caesarean section prior to the onset of labour in an attempt to assess its value as a marker of fetal stress.…”

Nucleated Red Blood Cells in Preterm Infants With Retinopathy of Prematurity

“…[9][10][11] In situations associated with intrauterine hypoxia, such as intrauterine growth restriction, maternal pregnancy-induced hypertension, or maternal diabetes or smoking, there is an elevation of nucleated red blood cell (RBC) counts at birth, presumably caused by increased compensatory erythropoiesis. 9,12 The aim of this study was to examine hematologic indices of potential intrauterine hypoxia, including circulating nucleated RBCs, lymphocytes, and platelets in preterm infants who developed ROP compared with suitable controls. We hypothesized that higher neonatal absolute nucleated RBC (ANRBC) and lymphocyte counts and lower platelets would be found in infants who developed ROP, compared with control infants.…”