Minute chromatin structures in cells of amniotic fluid—an interpretative dilemma |
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| Authors: | Hungshu Wang PhD Judith L Bellinger Kathleen Brierley Laura E Dawson Claire L Goldsmith Alasdair G W Hunter |
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| Institution: | 1. Division of Genetics, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ontario, Canada;2. Division of Genetics, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ontario, Canada
Department of Pediatrics, University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
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| Abstract: | Single copies of tiny chromosome fragments, appearing either as single or as double minutes, were observed in a high frequency in amniotic fluid cultures of five mothers who underwent prenatal testing because of advanced age. In four cases, the minutes had arisen de novo. The minutes were later confirmed in fetal skin following termination of pregnancy in one case; in another, in cord blood following the birth of a normal boy; and in the third, in peripheral blood of a normal 3-year-old girl. In the fourth case, the minutes were not confirmed in cord blood following the birth of a normal boy. A follow-up chromosome study of the baby boy in the fifth case was not possible but the minutes were maternally transmitted. |
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| Keywords: | Prenatal diagnosis amniocytes chromosome minutes chromatin bodies Single minutes double minutes |
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