title: Isolation of amniotic fluid erythrocytes and their possible use in prenatal diagnosis.
abstract: Many of the components of amniotic fluid have been found to be valuable in prenatal diagnosis; however, the presence of erythrocytes is usually considered undesirable. The authors have used buoyant density centrifugation on 96 amniotic fluid specimens from 70 subjects to isolate small numbers of erythrocytes from a majority of these specimens. Through immunofluorescence, these specimens were found to have higher levels of fetal hemoglobin-containing cells than the adult, indicating that the erythrocytes were at least in part fetal in origin. Thus, erythrocytes present in amniotic fluid could also be used in prenatal diagnosis.
mesh_terms: D000649:Amniocentesis; D000653:Amniotic Fluid / Q000166:cytology*; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D005319:Fetal Hemoglobin / Q000032:analysis*; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy
chemical_list: D005319:Fetal Hemoglobin