Differences in rhythms of enzymatic activity of maternal and fetal blood.

Blood specimens were obtained at different daily times from the umbilical cord and brachial vein from 53 women within 10 minutes after delivery. Enzyme activities were measured in the white blood cells (WBCs) and serum of each sample. For each enzyme, the results were grouped according to sampling (delivery) times and arrayed to form a 24h time series. Separate time series were generated for maternal and fetal enzymes. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and cosine best-fit analyses were applied to elucidate significant differences between enzyme activity patterns of mothers and fetuses with regard to time dependency, number of peaks, and acrophases. These and previously documented results indicate that not all mothers and fetuses have rhythms that are concordant. For some enzymes of fetuses, the activity rhythms differ in phase and shape of the time series pattern from those of the mothers; for other enzymes, the activity rhythms develop after birth. (Chronobiology International, 17(2), 221–228, 2000)