Cord blood porphyrins. A quantitative assay in newborn infants

A quantitative assay of free erythrocyte porphyrins was done in umbilical cord blood of 30 newborn babies by a spectrophotometric method. The mean value of free erythrocyte protoporphyrin in umbilical cord blood was found to be 74.58 microng/100 ml packed erythrocytes and that of free erythrocyte coproporphyrin to be 0.77 microng/100 ml packed erythrocytes with a standard deviation of +/-29.99 and +/-1.48 respectively. Relationship between free erythrocyte protoporphyrin and free erythrocyte comproporphyrin and their correlations with birth weight and sex of the newborn baby were found to be statistically significant.