Abstract

Objective: To determine the peripheral blood CD3 and CD8 T-lymphocytes subpopulation in healthy pregnant women in our environment. Methods: Pregnant women attending the antenatal care clinic (ANC) of the Central Hospital, Agbor , Nigeria, who gave informed consent were recruited for the study. Blood samples (10 mL) was collected by venipuncture from 121 healthy pregnant women (aged 17-47 years; mean 28.5暲0.43). Tweenty four non-pregnant healthy women (aged 18-30years; mean 21.12暲0.64) were enrolled as control. CD3+ and CD8+ counts were determined with the Partec flow cytometer. Results: The mean CD3+ count for pregnant women was 1311.10暲71.50 毺 /L when compared to the controls which was 9.67暲0.99 毺 /L. This was statistically significant(P<0.005). The mean CD8+ count for pregnant women was 340.91暲18.53 毺 / L as against the 583.58暲 47.30 毺 /L (P>0.005). Primigravidas had a higher CD3+ mean count than multiparas while mean CD8+ count was higher in multiparas than in primigravidas. Similarly, the mean CD3+ count was significantly different between all the trimesters with the highest count of 1, 353.23暲43.90 毺 /L in the first trimester as compared to the 9.67暲0.99 毺 /L in the control. Mean CD3+ was highly significant in pregnant women with history of previous abortions while the CD8+ cells were not. Conclusions: The results suggest the need for routine determination of T lymphocyte subsets apart from CD4 in pregnant women attending ANC clinic to prevent any possible immunological /pregnancy disorder during the period of pregnancy.

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