Maternal-fetal relationships: placental transmission of poliomyelitis antibodies in newborn.

STUDIES ON THE LIFE CYCLE of gamma globulins have shown that they begin to appear in the fetal plasma around the sixth month of intrauterine life, i.e. later than beta globulin and albumin.' The fetal gamma globulin level then increases rapidly, so that towards the end of intrauterine life it not only equals but often exceeds the maternal level (average maternal/ fetal gamma globulin: 1.35-1.50). It has been suggested that this fact be taken as an index of the intensity of the maternal transfer of antibodies or, in a more general way, of the ma-ternal-fetal relationship. If this vere true, then a newborn with a relative hypogammxmia (maternal/fetal gamma globulin less than 1.00) would be more liable to a diminished resistance to infection than a newborn vith a relative hypergammcmia.