Associations among birth weight, placental weight, gestational period and product quality indicators of umbilical cord blood units.
BACKGROUND
Numbers of CD34+ cell and total nucleated cell (TNC) and cord blood volume are commonly used as indicators for haematopoietic potential of umbilical cord blood (UCB) units. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between donor-related factors and the quality indicators of UCB.


METHODS
Obstetric and neonatal clinical laboratory data of a total of 1549 UCB units were obtained from Buddhist Tzu Chi Stem Cells Center (BTCSCC) Cord Blood Bank. A retrospective multivariate analysis was conducted to analyze the data.


RESULTS
Our results showed that birth weight had positive correlations with each of the clinical features of CD34+ cell number, TNC count and unit volume of UCB, followed by the placental weight. Longer gestational period would decrease CD34+ cell number and volume of UCB. Female baby and mode of vaginal delivery of neonates were found to have larger amount of TNC in UCB.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results would be helpful and beneficial in building up standard criteria for evaluating stored UCB units.
Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, Hualien, Taiwan.
Shu-Hui
SH
Wen
Wan-Ling
WL
Zhao
Py-Yu
PY
Lin
Kuo-Liang
KL
Yang
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D018952:Antigens, CD34; D001724:Birth Weight; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size; D010920:Placenta; D011247:Pregnancy; D011786:Quality Control; D012189:Retrospective Studies
D018952:Antigens, CD34