HbCo in mothers and newborns

Abstract

Fogh-Andersen N, Sindberg Eriksen P, Grinsted J and Siggaard-Andersen O. HbCO in mothers and newborns. Scand J Clin Lab Invest 1988; 48, Suppl 189: 27–32.

Carbon monoxide (CO) plays a special role for the fetus due to its combination with both maternal and fetal hemoglobin. It impedes oxygen delivery first from maternal blood to the placenta and next from fetal blood to the tissues. We wanted to study the relation between the CO affinities of adult and fetal hemoglobin by measuring maternal and fetal HbCO immediately after birth. The ratios of HbCO to total hemoglobin were identical in newborns and non-smoking mothers (0.38 %, n= 13), but higher in newborns when the mothers were cigarette-smokers (1.88 % versus 1.28 %, p <0.05, n=7). The results indicate equal in vivo maternal and fetal hemoglobin affinities for CO and a slow placental elimination of CO for cigarette-smoking mothers during labor.

Key-words:

• Adult hemoglobin
• affinity for CO
• carbon monoxide
• cigarette-smoking
• fetal hemoglobin
• gaschromatography
• oxygen transport to tissues