The effect of asphyxia on T-lymphocyte subsets in preterm infants

Objective To investigate the effect of asphyxia on T-lymphocyte subsets in preterm infant.Methods The asphyxiated preterm infants were divided into two groups: the mild asphyxia group contained 25 cases and the severe asphyxia group 20 cases.The control group contained 22 cases.Two blood samples were collected in each case,once on the first day after birth,the other on the fourteenth day after birth,T-lymphocyte subsets in blood were detected by flow cytometry(FCM).Results Compared with the control group and the mild asphyxia group,CD3,CD4,CD4/CD8 of the severe asphyxia group were significantly decreased(P0.05);and CD3,CD4,CD4/CD8 of the mild asphyxia group were lower than those of the control group.In the convalescence,CD3,CD4,CD4/CD8 of asphyxia group were increased compared with those of acute stage(P0.05),and there was no significant change in each index to be found between the mild asphyxia group and the control group(P0.05),while the change in each index of the severe asphyxia group was still decreased significantly compared with the control group(P0.05).Conclusion Asphyxia can cause disturbance of T-lymphocyte subsets in preterm infant,and the more severe of asphyxia,the more dramatic change of T-lymphocyte subsets has been found.