Comparison of the Immunoglobulin Levels in Maternal and Cord Blood and Influence of Parity on Maternal Immunoglobulin Concentration in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Aim: This study was carried out to compare the immunoglobulin levels in maternal and cord blood and to find out if parity has any effect on the immunoglobulin concentration of the maternal blood.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Human Physiology, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Port Harcourt, between June 2018 and September 2019.

Methodology: A total of 25 paired maternal and cord serum was used for the study. About 5ml of venous blood was collected from mothers immediately after delivery and cord blood was also collected after the cord has been cut and the clamp released slightly to allow blood flow into a plain bottle. The serum levels of IgA, IgG and IgM were measured using Turbidimetric immunoassay method.

Results: The mean IgA, IgM and IgG levels in maternal blood were 163.20 ± 13.35mg/dl, 88.16 ± 7.74 mg/dl and 351.60 ± 36.83 mg/dl respectively while their corresponding levels in the cord blood were 12.00±1.00mg/dl, 19.36 ± 1.67 and 300.60 ± 27.83 mg/dl respectively. The version 20.0 of the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel 2012 for the statistical analysis were employed for analyzing the various sets of data.

The Mean, standard errors of mean and ranges were determined for the different parameters for the two groups of subjects. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the variations between the subjects. The P-value of less than 0.05 was regarded as significant. The IgA and IgM showed significant variation in maternal and cord blood (P<0.05) while IgG showed no significant variation (P>0.05). Also, parity had no significant correlation with immunoglobulin concentration (P>0.05).

Conclusion: IgA and IgM concentrations were found to be significantly higher in maternal blood than in the cord blood, IgG showed no significant variation. There is a significant variation.