[Cytometric analysis of lymphocyte phenotype in cord and newborn blood]

At birth and in early childhood, phenotypic and functional investigation of the immune system is often necessary to identify primary immunological disorders and may provide additional diagnostic and prognostic information in certain intrauterine infections. We compared, using of flow cytometric immunophenotyping, a broad panel of lymphocyte subsets in paired samples obtained from healthy infants at birth (cord blood) and at 3 days of age. Results were compared to those of normal children (7 to 17 years) evaluated using the same methods. Significant age-related differences were demonstrated in lymphocyte subpopulations. Our data can be used as age-matched reference values for blood lymphocyte immunophenotyping.