Complement components in 100 newborns and their mothers determined by electroimmunoassay.

Samples of blood were obtained from 100 healthy full-term women in labour and, after delivery, from the umbilical cord of their infants. By electroimmunoassay, complement components were quantitated in serum (C1q, C1r, C1s, C1 IA, C2, P, D. I, H, C6 and C7) or in EDTA-plasma (C4, C3, B, C5. and C). The concentrations of C7 in cord serum was twice that found by others using a functional assay. Concentrations of C1r, I and C6 in the cord sample were 50-60 per cent of those in healthy blood donors used as reference, and that of D was about 130 per cent. The cord serum and plasma concentrations of the remaining components agreed with previously reported values. The maternal levels of C2, C4, C3, B, H, C5 were 40-60 per cent higher than those of the reference.