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Particle Agglutination Method for Poliovirus Identification
Published on: April 20, 2011
APPEARANCE OF ISOAGGLUTININS IN INFANTS AND CHILDREN
1Department of Pediatrics, the Johns Hopkins University, and the Harriet Lane Home and the Research Laboratory of the Phipps Tuberculosis Dispensary, the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore.
Insights
Blood group development in infants shows isoagglutination emerges gradually, with corpuscles developing receptors before serum antibodies. This blood group maturation is crucial for understanding infant transfusions.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Pediatrics
- Hematology
Background:
- Isoagglutination, a key aspect of blood grouping, is typically established in adults.
- Understanding the developmental timeline of isoagglutination in infants is essential for clinical practice, particularly in transfusions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the development of isoagglutination reactions in infants and children from birth to 10.5 years.
- To determine the age at which adult-like blood group characteristics are established in children.
- To clarify the sequence of isoagglutinin and receptor development in infant blood.
Main Methods:
- Microscopic examination of isoagglutination reactions.
- Testing serum and washed corpuscles from 131 infants and children against adult blood group standards.
- Analysis of blood samples across a wide age range (birth to 10.5 years).
Main Results:
- Infant blood, especially from the umbilical cord, rarely shows adult-like isoagglutination.
- Isoagglutination presence increases with age, typically established after 1 year and consistently present after 2 years.
- Corpuscular receptors for isoagglutination develop before serum isoagglutinins, with Group I forming first and Group IV last. Early corpuscular grouping may change, but established adult-like grouping is stable.
Conclusions:
- Infant isoagglutination develops progressively, with distinct stages in corpuscular and serum component maturation.
- Maternal isoagglutinins in breast milk are not typically transferred to nursing infants.
- Transfusing infants from mothers requires preliminary blood group compatibility testing due to potential differences.
Abstract:
1. The isoagglutination reaction of 131 infants and children from birth to 10(1/2) years was examined by testing their serum and washed corpuscles microscopically against the serum and corpuscles of each of the four adult groups. 2. The grouping as present in adults is rarely present in blood from the umbilical cord. 3. At birth and during the 1st month of life isoagglutination is rarely present, but the percentage of infants in whom the isoagglutinin group is established increases with age, so that after 1 year the group is usually established, and after 2 years is always present as in adults. 4. The grouping is established in the corpuscles before it is established in the serum; i.e., the corpuscles acquire agglutinophilic receptors before the serum acquires agglutinin. Therefore, Group I is the first group to be formed and Group IV is the last. 5. The early grouping in the corpuscles before the group is established in the serum is liable to change by the acquisition of new receptors. 6. When the grouping has been established in both serum and corpuscles it does not change. 7. Isoagglutinins are present in mother's milk and the grouping is identical with that in the mother's blood. These agglutinins are probably not transmitted to the nursing infant through the milk. 8. On account of the differences between the agglutination reactions in the blood of mother and child it is not safe to transfuse an infant from its mother without making the preliminary tests.
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