RESUMO
The Aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of pre-eclampsia on the cord and maternal nucleated red blood cell [NRBCs] count. Prospective study. This study was carried out on 50 pre-eclamptic pregnant women and 150 healthy pregnant women from those attending delivery on obstetrics, and Gynecology Department, Al-Azhar University Hospitals. Before the delivery 1ml of maternal venous blood and immediately after the delivery, 1ml of fetal side cord blood form 50 pre-eclamptic and 150 healthy pregnant women were collected separately in tubes containing 1.5 mg ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid. Blood smears were prepared and stained using the Giemsa method. The number of NRBCs per 100 leukocytes in maternal and cord blood was counted and compared between the Two groups. Any correlation of the NRBCs count in maternal and umbilical cord blood was also evaluated. p-values <0.05 were considered significant. The mean [ +/- SD] NRBCs per 100 white blood cell [WBCs] level in cord blood of newborns in the pre-eclamptic group [18.2 +/- 31.8, range 0-142] was significantly greater than in the control group [6.2 +/- 8.1, range 0.36]. Low birth weight and intrauterine growth restriction showed a statistically significant relationship with abnormal NRBC count in pre-eclamptic patients. A significant correlation was found between the maternal and cord blood NRBCs count in the pre-eclamptic group. Fetal response to utero-placental insufficiency in pre-eclampsia leads to elevated NRBC in the cord blood. Particularly in the presence of low birth eight and intrauterine growth restriction. The positive correlation between maternal and cord blood NRBC counts in pre-eclamptic patients indicates that may be the hypoperfused placenta plays a role in the correlated alteration of the maternal and fetal NRBCs count