CORD BLOOD HAPTOGLOBIN AS AN IDICATOR FOR EARLY DIAGNOSIS OF NEONATAL JAUNDICE

Abstract

N eonatal jaundice is a common disorder with more than half of all newborns being affected in the first three to five postnatal days. Because of increasing number of early discharged newborns, there is a corresponding danger of failing to diagnose severe hyperbilirubinemia and start the treatment in time, as reports about kernicterus in full term healthy new born demonstrate (Newman and Maisels, 2000). Therefore, it is important to establish safe markers for the development of excessive jaundice in these infants (Alpay et al., 2000). Hemoglobin released from erythrocytes into the circulation by intravascular hemolysis binds immediately with haptoglobin, a serum glycoprotein synthesized primarily by hepatocytes, and forms a stable hemoglobin-haptoglobin (Hb-Hp) complex. Hb binding by haptoglobin is thought to be important in the rapid hepatic clearance of hemoglobin from the plasma and in the inhibition of glomerular filtration of hemoglobin (Okuda et al., 1992 and Oshiro et al., 1992).