ERYTHROPOIESIS IN THE POSTPARTUM PERIOD

The puerperium is a time of immense physiological changes for the fema le organism. Erythropoiesis plays one of the central roles in these pr ocesses. The aim of this investigation was to describe physiological e rythropoiesis in healthy women during the puerperium. Blood samples we re taken just before delivery and on days 1, 2, 3, 4 and 14 postpartum . In addition to the usual parameters such as hemoglobin, hematocrit, platelets, leucocytes, ferritin, CRP, endogenous erythropoietin, etc., the absolute and the percentage reticulocyte counts - both the total and for the subpopulations - were determined by flow cytometry. The me an Hb values decreased in the first 24 hours postpartum by 0.8 g/dl an d then rose to 0.2 g/dl more than the initial value on day 14. The ret iculocytes reflected erythropoietic stimulation with an increase from day 0 to day 1 of 2.1% (79.1 x 10(9)/1) and a continual decrease there after. The hematological parameters followed a characteristic course i n the puerperium. For the reticulocytes and the subpopulations, a defi nite erythropoietic stimulation was evident even before delivery, as w as an increase in the erythropoietic activity in the early puerperium.