Relationship between the genotype and hematologic characteristics in the fetuses with thalassemia / 中华儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVES</b>To investigate the relationship between the genotype and the hematologic characteristics in the fetuses with different types of thalassemia.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Fetal blood samples were taken by cordocentesis, and hemograms from 572 fetuses at the gestational age of 18 to 38 weeks were examined. According to the genotypes of thalassemia, there were 117 fetuses with heterozygous alpha-thalassemia-1, and 60 with homozygous alpha-thalassemia-1. Twenty had beta-thalassemia mild, and 9 had beta-thalassemia major, respectively. The hematological parameters in these groups were compared with reference group in which 366 cases were included.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In alpha-thalassemia groups, hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (HCT), mean cell volume (MCV), mean cell hemoglobin (MCH), and mean cell hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) significantly decreased (P < 0.001), but in heterozygous alpha-thalassemia-1, red blood cell (RBC) increased. In homozygous alpha-thalassemia-1, RBC decreased significantly (P < 0.001), but white blood cell and nucleated erythrocyte increased (P < 0.001). There were no significant differences between beta-thalassemia and reference group in most hematological parameters except for decrease of MCHC.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>In the fetal period, the hemogram of the fetuses with alpha-thalassemia changes significantly, while it does not change in beta-thalassemia. For the couple with heterozygous alpha-thalassemia, hemogram can provide some information for prenatal screening and diagnosis for those fetuses with alpha-thalassemia, especially for homozygous, but genotype detection is necessary for confirming the diagnosis.</p>

Scanning aneugen and clastogen by micronuclei analysis using flow cytometry / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore a flow cytometry (FCM)-based method for discriminating aneugen- or clastogen-induced micronuclei.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Cells were stained with anti-CD71-FITC and PI, and the PI fluorescent signal intensity of micronucleated reticulocyte (MN-RET) in the peripheral blood of NIH mouse treated with COL or CP was detected by flow cytometry.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The ratio of the median of the intensity of MN-RET fluorescent signals to that of nucleated cell was low in the cyclophosphamide treated mouse, while the median was high in the colchicine treated mouse.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The flow cytometry-based micronucleus assay can be used to discriminate primarily smaller MN induced by the clastogen exposure from the larger MN induced by an aneugen.</p>

Establishment of a method for HLA-DRB genotyping in cord blood by reverse dot-blot hybridization technique / 中国实验血液学杂志

The HLA system was discovered by virtue of the fact that it was polymorphic. The impetus for its discovery was the search for polymorphic antigens to match for transplantation, by analogy with the human red cell blood groups. The most usually DNA method of HLA typing is sequence specific oligonucleotides (SSO) and PCR sequence specific primers (SSP). SSO technique is perfectly suited for analyzing large number of samples, it is not suitable for individual or small numbers. The SSP method is ideal for typing individual samples, but it is costly and requires high capacity thermal cycles for larger numbers of samples. To set up a simple, quick, cheap and high resolution DNA method, were collected sixty-three cord blood samples from Guangzhou Cord Blood Bank, got DNA from blood by the traditional guanidine hydrochloride distillation method. Each sample was simultaneously typed by SSOP, PCR-SSP and reverse dot-blot hybridization (RDB) methods. All of typed is success. The results of three DNA methods are consistent each other. 60 HLA-DRB1 alleles could be accurately distinguished with the RDB method. Our results show that RDB method is a simple, quick, cheap and high resolution method for HLA-DRB types. It can be used in any HLA typing.