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Updated: Aug 9, 2026
Accurate and Phenol Free DNA Sexing of Day 30 Porcine Embryos by PCR
Published on: February 14, 2016
Improved detection of fetal cells from maternal blood with polymerase chain reaction
L R Adkison1, R H Andrews, N L Vowell
1Division of Biomedical Sciences, Mercer University School of Medicine, Macon, GA 31207.
Objective:
The objective was to test the reliability of new deoxyribonucleic acid primers that have previously been used very efficiently by this laboratory with amniolysate samples to amplify a 248 bp Y-specific, repeated sequence from maternal blood during pregnancy.
Study Design:
Blood samples were obtained from 50 women during weeks 11 and 16 of pregnancy and were analyzed for the presence of the Y chromosome-specific sequences.
Results:
Y-specific fragments were identified in 19 of 24 (79.2%) women after one complete amplification. A second amplification of these samples negative for Y-specific fragments revealed three additional samples positive for the Y chromosome-specific fragment. Only two male fetuses remained unidentified. Overall, 91.7% male fetuses and 96% of all fetuses (48/50) in these women were correctly identified.
Conclusions:
The primers described in this study provide an additional or alternative tool for the determination, by means of the polymerase chain reaction, of Y chromosome-bearing cells in maternal circulation.
