Choice of anticoagulant can influence the analysis using fluorescence in situ hybridization of fetal cells enriched from maternal blood

A notable degree of research attention is being focused on the use of fetal cells enriched from the blood of pregnant women as a non-invasive means of prenatal diagnosis. By using magnetic activated cells sorting (MACS) and f luorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), we have examined the efficacy of enriched fetal cells in determining fetal sex. An unexpected finding of thi s investigation was that the sensitivity of this analysis was influenced by the anticoagulant used to treat the maternal blood samples. As such, sampl es treated with heparin showed significantly lower detection rates than sam ples chelated with EDTA. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.