It is already well established that a Rh negative mother carrying a Rh+ (D antigen) fetus may have a rare chance of exposure to Rh fetal antigen at the time of placental separation and or during abortion and may develop antibodies against Rh antigen. These anti Rh antigen antibodies may interfere with her second Rh+ pregnancy. Imagine if the situation is reversed and the mother is now Rh+ and the developing fetusis is Rh negative: Are there any possibilities of this Rh negative fetus being exposed to mothers Rh antigen and developing complications after birtn?
This is simply an opinion, I don't have any research to back this up.
The prenatal and neonatal immune system is pretty immature, I don't think there would be enough exposure to actually develop Rh-antibodies. Most of the time, RH- mother don't even produce enough Rh-antibodies in their first pregnancy to cause problem, it is only after a second exposure that the immune system react strongly enough to put the baby in danger.
Even if they did produce antibodies, it would only help destroy blood cell carrying the Rh antigen, which the baby doesn't produce. From memory, there is very little red blood cell exchange in the placenta. After birth, even if the baby do swallow some blood ( breast feeding etc), she/he will be exposed to very little antigen because of the digestion process.
Imagine if one parent or the mother is heterozygote Rh+ and the other parent (father) is a homozygote Rh-negative still 50% of their offsprings (baby boy or baby girl) are likely to be homozygote Rh-. My question was are those Rh- homozygotes are at any risk of exposure to the mothers Rh+ blood at the time of placental separation and develop antibodies to the mothers Rh (D) antigen.
This is simply an opinion, I don't have any research to back this up.
The prenatal and neonatal immune system is pretty immature, I don't think there would be enough exposure to actually develop Rh-antibodies. Most of the time, RH- mother don't even produce enough Rh-antibodies in their first pregnancy to cause problem, it is only after a second exposure that the immune system react strongly enough to put the baby in danger.
Even if they did produce antibodies, it would only help destroy blood cell carrying the Rh antigen, which the baby doesn't produce. From memory, there is very little red blood cell exchange in the placenta. After birth, even if the baby do swallow some blood ( breast feeding etc), she/he will be exposed to very little antigen because of the digestion process.
It's not possible because the foetus or the neonate is immunologically immature and therefore not competent for induction of immune response.
The problems associated with haemolytic disease of the newborn and fetus (HDNF) which lead the to complications you allude to, are due to the mother producing antibodies directed antigens on the babies red cells and it is these antigens that determine the babies blood group. In the case of RhD, a negative blood group means that no D antigens are expressed therefore an antibody/antigen interaction can not occur.
There are other antigens in the Rh blood group system apart from D that can also cause complications in the fetus or newborn if the mother has the coresponding antibody. After anti-D the next most common antibody to cause HDNF is anti-c which is usually found in mothers with the R1R1 phenotype (D+ C+ c- E- e-) and therefore RhD+
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Biological Science
- Immunology
- Antibodies