Sialic Acid in Lymphocytes and Sera from Mothers and Their Newborns after Normal Deliveries

Abstract

Sialic acid was determined in newborn and maternal lymphocytes as well as in newborn and maternal serum immediately after normal deliveries. A significant increase in sialic acid in newborn as compared to maternal lymphocytes was found. Sialic acid concentration seems to be sex-dependent for newborn lymphocytes only, and higher concentrations of sialic acid were observed in male as compared to female newborn lymphocytes. No differences between the sialic acid concentration in maternal and control lymphocytes could be found. In newborn serum, sialic acid was significantly reduced as compared to maternal or control serum. No sex-linked differences were observed. No differences between the concentration of maternal and control serum were detected.

Sialic Acid Level in Maternal and Neonatal Lymphocytes and Sera Correlated to Birth Order and Sex of the Neonate

“…The results of the present study on in creased levels of sialic acid on peripheral blood lymphocytes from neonates confirm the findings of our previous investigations [8,10] on increased sialic acid levels in umbilical cord blood as compared to adult or maternal blood lymphocytes. Although the number of cases according to parity groups is small, the results suggest differences in sialic acid con centrations on maternal and neonatal lym phocytes and sera according to birth order and sex of the neonate.…”

“…Sialic acids, as well as sialomucins, were reported to rise in maternal serum during pregnancy and to decrease signifi cantly at the time of delivery [25,26]. The sig nificantly decreased sialic acid level observed in the present study for peripheral neonatal as compared to maternal serum confirms our previous results on decreased sialic acid levels in cord blood serum [8].…”

“…Significantly increased sialic acid levels and sialyltransferase activity [8,10] were found after term deliveries on umbilical cord lymphocytes as compared to maternal and adult lymphocytes, and the possibility that sialic acid may contribute to paternal histo compatibility masking of fetal lymphocytes and may protect them from immunologic rec ognition by maternal immunocompetent cells was suggested.…”

Role of the Newborn’s Sex in Mixed Maternal-Newborn Lymphocyte Culture Reactivity

“…We observed in previous studies sex-linked val ues in mother and newborn for E-rosette forming T lym phocytes, for sialic acid concentrations, as well as sexcorrelated differences in the blocking effect of maternal serum from multiparous women on the leukocyte migra tion-inhibition test [10][11][12][13][14], As a possible in vitro analogue of the afferent phase of the allograft reaction, the mixed lymphocyte reaction between mother and newborn was used by a number of investigators [15,16]. In the present study mixed moth-er-newborn lymphocyte cultures (MMNLC) were pre pared a few hours after delivery and the possibility that sex-correlated differences in the immunoresponse of ma ternal and newborn cells may be observed in MMNLC combinations was investigated.…”

Lymphocyte Subpopulations in Mother and Newborn: Correlation with Sex of the Newborn and Number of Pregnancies

“…A similar correlation with the sex of the newborn was observed by us when the presence of sialic acid, which is considered to contribute to the masking of antigenic sites on lymphocytes [7], was stud ied on maternal and cord blood lymphocytes from healthy newborns. An increased concentration of sialic acid was observed on cord blood, as compared to mater nal lymphocytes and the values were higher for male than for female newborns [8].…”