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Blood Groups and Subgroups of the Newborn

I. The A Factor of the Newborn

From the Department of Bacteriology and Immunology, University of Buffalo School of Medicine, and the Buffalo General Hospital

Abstract

1) Adult blood cells of subgroups A₁ and A₂ as well as cord blood cells of group A are agglutinated by native immune anti-A sera of human origin almost to the same extent, provided saline solution is used as the diluent.

2) If saline solution is replaced as a diluent by normal adult serum of group A or AB, immune anti-A sera of human origin allow the differentiation of adult A₁ and adult A₂ cells. Under these conditions, cord blood cells of group A frequently resemble adult cells of subgroup A₂ more than adult cells of subgroup A₁.

3) The addition of a solution of purified A substance to human immune anti-A sera results in the neutralization of the antibody content against all subgroups of A when saline solution is used as the diluent.

4) Neutralized anti-A sera frequently agglutinate A₁ cells up to the original titer, without agglutinating A₂ cells at all, if saline solution is replaced as a diluent by normal adult serum.

5) Cord blood cells of 34 babies belonging to the blood group A revealed wide variations of agglutinability when tested with this type of reagent, exhibiting differences corresponding to the subgroups of adult A bloods, though on a lower level of agglutinability. About half of the babies' cells reacted like adult A₂ cells or even weaker. The other half could be placed between adult A₂ and adult A₁ cells, rarely reaching the agglutinability of adult A₁ cells.

6) Hirszfeld's theory of "pleiades" is discussed in its relation to the experimental results described in this paper.