ABSTRACT
Background: The rhesus blood group antigen system is important in transfusion and clinical medicine, being involved in hemolytic disease of the newborn, transfusion reactions and autoimmune hemolytic anemia. Despite the widespread use of rhesus immunoglobulin prophylaxis in rhesus D [RhD]-negative mothers, rhesus immunization still occurs. Knowledge of the RhD status of the fetus is important in the clinical management, because no further diagnosis or therapeutic procedures are necessary if the fetus is RhD-negative. RhD antigen can be detected using a sensitive PCR-based assay. It was shown that RhD negative individuals lack the RhD gene
Methods: We obtained 5m1 blood samples from thirty eight RhD positive and negative blood donors, as controls and forty chorionic villus samples [CVS] from pregnant women at 8 to 12 weeks of gestation DNA was extracted from CVS by standard salting out and blood DNA was extracted by boiling procedure. DNA amplification [heminested-PCR] was carried out with appropriate primers
Results: PCR products were analyzed on an agarose gel. RhD gene determined in all CV samples