1 The Departments of Pediatrics and Physiological Chemistry, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis., Markle Scholar in Medical Sciences.
2 The Departments of Pediatrics and Physiological Chemistry, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis.
Normal maternal serum and newborn infant serum have been compared with respect to their content of nonspecific hyaluronidase inhibitor and mucoprotein. Elevations in serum levels of hyaluronidase inhibitor and mucoprotein were found in maternal serum while decreased concentrations of mucoprotein and normal levels of hyaluronidase inhibitor characterized the serum of infants at birth. Mucoprotein concentrations in maternal serum increase for a period following delivery and remain at high levels for at least one month. Increase from low mucoprotein levels occurred in infants' serums during the first month of life and levels comparable to those of normal adults were found throughout the remainder of the first year. The relation of these findings to studies of other protein constituents in maternal and infant serum is discussed as are possible mechanisms to explain the results obtained.
Submitted on April 30, 1953