J Clin Pathol Qual Control.  1999 Dec;21(2):335-341.

Difference of Erythropoietic Activity and Soluble Transferrin Receptor Levels Between Male and Female Neonates

• Choi JW
• Pai SH

Abstract

BACKGROUND: To investigate the differences of erythropoietic activity between male and female neonates, we measured the reticulocyte subpopulations, reticulocyte maturation index (RMI) and soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) concentration in normal newborns. Also correlation between reticulocyte subpopulations, RMI and sTfR levels were determined. Method: A total of 452 newborns were examined for the measurement of reticulocyte subpopulations, RMI, sTfR and iron parameters. Three mL of blood was obtained from cord vein within five minutes after delivery. Reticulocytes and their subpopulations were automatically analyzed by flow cytometry using R-3000 (Sysmex, Toa, Japan). Soluble transferrin receptor was measured by immunoenzymometric method using IDeA(TM)sTfR kits (Orion Diagnostica, Orion Co, Finland).
RESULTS
RMI of male neonates was 39.04+/-3.87% and significantly higher than 28.30+/-3.71% of female neonates (p<0.01). Among reticulocyte subpopulations, high fluorescence reticulocytes (HFR) and middle fluorescence reticulocytes (MFR) of male neonates were significantly higher than those of female neonates (p<0.01). The sTfR level of male neonates was 6.25+/-0.53 mg/L and also significantly higher than 5.06+/-0.44 mg/L of female neonates (p<0.01). The sTfR had relatively good correlation with RMI (r=0.71, p<0.01). HFR (r=0.74, p<0.01) and MFR (r=0.53, p<0.01).
CONCLUSIONS
The higher value of RMI and sTfR observed in male neonates indicates erythropoietic activity is greater in this group. And correlation study demonstrates clinical usefulness of transferrin receptor measurement for the evaluation of erythropoietic activity in newborns.

MeSH Terms

Erythropoiesis
Female*
Flow Cytometry
Fluorescence
Humans
Infant, Newborn*
Iron
Male*
Receptors, Transferrin*
Reticulocytes
Statistics as Topic
Transferrin*
Veins
Iron
Receptors, Transferrin
Transferrin