Objectives: As many studies have analysed the immunological phenotype of either neonatal cord or maternal blood during pregnancy, but few have compared paired maternal and neonatal samples, we designed and conducted such a study in a Central African setting.
Methods: We used flow cytometric analyses with blood samples from pairs of Gabonese mothers and their newborns to determine the cellular composition of mononuclear cells as well as the activation status of T and B lymphocytes and antigen-presenting cells.
Results: The results indicate higher activation levels of neonatal cells involved in the first-line defence against pathogens such as natural killer cells, while the neonatal T- and B-cell compartment as well as the neonatal monocyte subpopulations shows a less mature phenotype.
Conclusions: Our findings likely reflect a specific neonatal defence mechanism that compensates for otherwise poorly developed immune responses at birth, especially important in an area with a high burden of infectious agents such as Gabon. The data contribute to the establishment of reference values for the mother-neonate relationship in African regions that have similar environmental characteristics.
© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.