Aims: Umbilical cord blood can be used as an alternative source for related and unrelated allogeneic stem cell transplantation. This study was undertaken to determine whether intrapartum factors have an influence on the hematopoietic cell compartment of cord blood.
Methods: Cord blood samples were obtained from 102 normal full-term deliveries for the banking of stem cells. We analyzed the influence of intrapartum factors on the count of CD34+ cells, total nucleated cells, colony forming units and total volume of collection. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting was used to measure CD34+ cell numbers. Statistical analysis was undertaken using Pearson correlation test and multiple regression analysis.
Results: The higher the infants' birthweight the larger was the volume. A lower arterial umbilical pH and a larger blood volume resulted in an increased number of CD34+ cells. A large blood volume, long duration of labor, lower arterial and venous pH were correlated with more nucleated cells. A higher birthweight, larger blood volume and lower arterial pH resulted in an increased number of colony forming units.
Conclusions: Some intrapartum factors have an impact on the characteristics of collected cord blood cells. Stress during delivery may influence the number of hematopoetic cells, through altered cytokine production. This knowledge may facilitate the selection of optimal cord blood samples for unrelated banking and the early discarding of suboptimal cord blood samples thus resulting in the saving of costs related to expensive further processing.