Blood Group - How To Determine Compatibility, What Affects?

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-17 02:10

Blood group: compatibility, what affects?

Determination of the blood group may be required before the upcoming operation, during pregnancy, when donating blood and in other situations. If we consider the term "blood group" from a medical point of view, then we will talk about determining the indicator in the erythrocyte system AB0, which Landsteiner discovered in 1901.

The scientist Karl Landsteiner received the Nobel Prize for his great discovery. However, his scientific research did not end there. Throughout the rest of his life, he was looking for other antigens that are on the surface of erythrocytes. In 1940, another great discovery was made, which "gave" the world the Rhesus system. Before this event in 1927, the proteins MNs and Pp were found in the erythrocyte system. All these discoveries can be considered breakthrough, since they allowed blood to be transfused from one person to another without fear that it could destroy him. Since then, the process of blood transfusion has become more and more safe every year and continues to improve today.

Content:

• Blood type - what is it?
• Antigens on human erythrocytes
• Blood type and Rh factor
• Four blood groups, a possible set of antigens and antibodies
• Blood group of the child and parents: how to calculate?
• Blood type compatibility
• The dependence of a person's character on his blood type
• Diet by blood type

Blood type - what is it?

A blood group means an individual antigenic set of proteins that a person receives from birth. It determines the peculiarity of a particular individual - a person, an animal, and even microorganisms. Thus, these antigens (isoantigens, alloantigens) allow the isolation of a specific individual within a specific species. Blood antigens do not have in common with antigens that appear in the body against the background of the development of cancerous tumors, as well as proteins that cause infectious diseases that enter the body from the external environment.

Karl Landsteiner began to study the properties of these antigens during his lifetime. He mixed the red blood cells of some people with the serum of others. In the course of such experiments, the scientist found that sometimes erythrocytes begin to stick together (this process is called agglutination), and sometimes their color remains uniform.

Karl Landsteiner was able to identify 3 blood groups - A, B and C. The fourth blood group - AB was discovered by another scientist Jan Jansky. In America and England, the first standard sera, which contained specific antibodies that determine blood groups, were obtained back in 1915. In Russia, the blood group began to be determined in 1919. At first, the calculation was made according to the AB0 system, and in 1921 digital designations were introduced into practice. In the future, they began to use the nomenclature of letters and numbers. In this case, antibodies were designated by the Greek letters α and β, and antigens by the Latin letters A and B.

Antigens on human erythrocytes

Modern science dealing with issues of immunohematology has identified about 250 antigens that are on the surface of erythrocytes.

The basic system of antigens contained on erythrocytes includes:

• AB0, which includes the varieties of antigens A, B, H.
• MNSs (M, N, S, s, U).
• Rhesus, which is defined by the Rh value with variations D, C, E, d, c, e.
• Lutheran, which is designated Lutheran with variations Lu ^a and Lu ^b.
• Kell, which is denoted as K, k (Kell).
• Lewis, referred to as Lewis, with variations of Le ^a, Le ^b. This antigen system was actively used in forensic medicine in the past years, until the time when genetic fingerprinting was discovered.
• Duffy with the notation Duffy and variations Fy ^a, Fy ^b.
• Kidd with the notation Kidd and variations of Jk ^a, Jk ^b.
• Diego with the notation Diego and variations of Di ^a, Di ^b.
• Li with the designation I, i.
• Xg with option Xg ^a.

They use these sets of antigens when it is necessary to select blood for transfusion, as well as in obstetrics. Many systems, with the exception of AB0 and Rh, are difficult and expensive to detect. Therefore, the term "blood group" most often means the basic system of AB0 antigens located on the surface of erythrocytes with blood group 1, 2, 3, 4.

Blood type and Rh factor

Possible blood group and Rh factor options

O- (first negative or 1-)	A- (second negative or 2-)	B- (third negative or 3-)	AB- (fourth negative or 4-)
O + (first positive or 1+)	A + (second positive or 2+)	B + (third positive or 3+)	AB + (fourth positive or 4+)

After the 50s of the 20th century, scientists began to gradually discover other antigens, including:

• Platelet antigens, which for the most part copy erythrocyte antigens, but they are not so pronounced. Therefore, determining the blood group on platelets is a difficult task.
• Antigens of nuclear cells. First of all, we are talking about lymphocytes. This discovery made it possible to move forward in the transplantation of internal organs and other tissues. Also, the discovery of nuclear cell antigens has expanded the ability to identify various genetic diseases.
• Plasma protein antigens, of which more than 10 have already been isolated.

All these discoveries made it possible to determine the blood group with high accuracy, and also allow you to fight a number of diseases. Therefore, the process of blood transfusion today is a safe procedure, and organ and tissue transplantation operations are gaining momentum and becoming more accessible.

Four blood groups, a possible set of antigens and antibodies

A person's blood group depends on antigens A and B (agglutinogens). These antigens include proteins and polysaccharides. They have a dense ligament with the erythrocyte stroma, but do not depend on hemoglobin.

Antigens A and B can be found in platelets and white blood cells, as well as in various tissues and body fluids. They are present in amniotic fluid, in saliva and in human tears. However, their concentration there is extremely low.

So, on the erythrocyte stroma, these antigens are present, which form a pair. Possible combinations: AB, BB, AA, A0, B0. If they are not found, then the pair is called 00.

In the blood plasma, the globulin fraction is present - agglutinins α and β. They are compatible with antigen A c?, B c?. Such combinations are called natural antibodies.

A person with the first blood group, in which there are no antigens, will have both antibodies - and?, And?. A person with the fourth blood group has no antibodies. If they enter such blood, then α will stick to antigen B, and β will stick to antigen A.

Therefore, a person, depending on his blood group, will have different antigens, these sets are presented in the table.

Blood type	Possible antigens and antibodies
The first	Antigens 00, antibodies α and β
The second	Antigens AA or A0, antibodies only β
Third	BB or B0 antigens, α antibodies only
Fourth	Antigens only A and B, no antibodies

This is the basic blood group classification system, but there are people on Earth whose blood does not fit any of the proposed sets. This blood is called Bombay, since it was first discovered in a Bombay resident back in 1952. In the blood of such people, antigens A and B are absent. However, in addition to antibodies α and β, they produce anti-H antibodies. They do not allow antigens A and B to gain a foothold on erythrocytes, but instead of them on erythrocytes there is substance H. People with Bombay blood and some other types of blood group live all over the world. Such a rare blood group is a kind of disadvantage, because if it is necessary for its transfusion, the donor will have to wait a very long time.

Blood group of the child and parents: how to calculate?

The AB0 blood group is inherited by a person from his mother and father. Moreover, one antigen is passed from one parent, and the other from the other. Therefore, half of the phenotype may be for the mother and half for the father. A combination of these two characteristics can be created in such a way that the blood type of the child will not match the blood type of either parent.

Sometimes men who find out about the mismatch of the blood type of his child with his blood type and the blood type of the mother begin to suspect a woman of treason. However, such suspicions are born out of absolute ignorance of the laws of genetics. To avoid unnecessary suspicions and even parting with your spouse, you need to contact a specialist or independently find information that will allow you to put everything in its place.

There are several possible options for which blood type a child will have, depending on the blood type of his parents. All of them are presented in the table.

Option	Parents' blood type	Child's blood type
	If mom has blood type 1 and dad has blood type 1 00	The child has only the first blood group 0. Genes that produce antigens of the first group are recessive, they can exist only in a homozygous state (provided that there is no other dominant gene)
	If mom has second blood group A and dad has second blood group A, then several options are possible. There is a possibility of a combination of two identical traits and a dominant AA, and one or both parents may have a second blood group, but in combination with A0 (recessive variant in combination with a dominant warrant). In this case, the child's blood group can be not only the second, but also the first.	Possible options:
	One parent AA (second blood group) and second parent AA (second blood group)	AA child (second blood group)
	One parent AA (second blood group), the second parent A0 (second blood group)	AA child (second blood group)
	One parent A0 (second blood group) and the second parent A0 (second blood group)	The child is either AA (second blood group), or A0 (second blood group), or 00 (first blood group). A child cannot have the third and fourth blood groups.
	Parents have a third blood group with a set of genes AA + AA or AA + A0	The child will either have a third blood group or a first blood group. At the same time, he cannot have a second blood group or a fourth blood group.
	One parent has the first blood group and the other parent has the second blood group. There may be two options.	Possible options:
	One parent has A0 (second blood group), the other parent has 00 (first blood group)	The child cannot have A0 (second blood group) and 00 (first blood group), third and fourth blood groups.
	One parent has AA (second blood group), the other parent has 00 (first blood group)	Child A0 (second blood group)
five	If one of the parents has the first blood group, and the other parent has the third blood group, then the development of events can occur according to the variant described above, but with the replacement of the second group by the third.	The child has a third blood group or a first blood group, but he cannot have a second and fourth blood group.
	The parents have blood types A (second group) and B (third group). There may be several options for the development of events. In this case, the fourth blood group in a child can also be in the case when both antigens in the phenotype are equal and equally manifest themselves in the new blood (A + B = AB).	Child's blood group options:
	AA (second group) + BB (third group)	AB (fourth group)
	A0 (second group) + B0 (third group)	AB (fourth), or 00 (first), or A0 (second) or B0 (third)
	A0 (second group) + BB (third group)	AB (fourth) or B0 (third)
	B0 (third group) + AA (second group)	AB (fourth) or A0 (second)
	If one parent has a second blood group and the other parent has a fourth blood group.	Possible options. The child cannot have the first blood group.
	AA (second group) + AB (fourth group)	AA (second) or AB (third)
	A0 (second blood group) and AB (fourth blood group)	AA (second), A0 (second), B0 (third), AB (fourth).
eight	If one parent has a third blood group and the other parent has a fourth blood group.	Possible options
	BB (third group) + AB (fourth)	BB (third) or AB (fourth)
	B0 (third) + AB (fourth)	A0 (second), or BB (third), or B0 (third) or AB (fourth)
nine	If one parent has the first blood group and the other parent has the fourth blood group, then the child will have either the second blood group or the third blood group, but the first and fourth blood groups will not appear.	Possible options
	A + 0	A0 (second group)
	B + 0	B0 (third blood group)

Based on the table, your child can have any blood type. With confidence, you can talk about the child's blood group if the mother and father had the first blood group. Based on this rule, a child with the second and third blood groups cannot appear. According to another rule, if one parent has a fourth blood group, and the other has a first blood group. In this case, the child will have either a second or a third, the phenotype of the parents' blood group will be lost.

Table: child's blood group based on the parent's blood groups:

Blood type compatibility

In ancient times, parents who wanted to conceive a boy put reins under their pillow. Now some parents are trying to "calculate" the gender of the child, dividing the age of the man by 4, and the age of the mother by 3. Whose remainder is greater, this gender will be the child. Medicine considers all these methods of determining the sex of a baby to be unreasonable from a scientific point of view, but it does not prohibit their practice.

The blood type does not allow determining the sex of the child, but it makes it possible to establish the group compatibility of the parents. In some cases, anti-A and anti-B antibodies may form in the mother's body, which can disrupt the normal course of pregnancy, or will interfere with breastfeeding.

It should be noted that the Rh factor rarely causes abortion, but, nevertheless, certain risks exist. Also, if the blood group of the mother and father is incompatible, the child may be born with hemolytic disease. It leads to serious health complications, ranging from the development of deafness to death.

Pregnancy and blood type

After a woman is registered for pregnancy, she must be sent to the laboratory in order to determine the Rh factor and blood group.

If a pregnant woman has a negative Rh factor and a man has a negative Rh factor, then you should not worry about blood incompatibility.

Provided that the woman's Rh factor is negative, but her first pregnancy, and before that there were no miscarriages and abortions, she also need not worry. The Rh system does not have natural antibodies. The body will only recognize "foreign" (fetus), but will not give a negative reaction to it. Immunization will take place during childbirth. So that the body does not have time to remember the presence of foreign antigens, an anti-rhesus serum will be administered to a woman on the first day after the birth of a child, which will save all subsequent pregnancies.

However, if immunization is strong, then even despite serious and prolonged treatment, pregnancy will end in miscarriages. The body of women with a negative blood group once "remembers" someone else's protein and then, after its appearance inside the body, begins to direct all the power of its immune system to it. Therefore, a fetus with a positive Rh factor will be rejected all the time.

In addition to the Rh factor, other blood systems, such as Kell and the HLA system, can influence the compatibility of the mother's body with the fetus. Each of them can present an “unpleasant surprise”. A woman who has an intimate relationship with a man, even before pregnancy, gives a reaction to his antigens. Her body begins to produce antibodies against it. This process in medicine is called a sensitization reaction. The degree of its severity depends on how many immunoglobulins and antigen-antibody complexes are formed in the woman's body. The more of them, the lower the probability of conception. Such incompatibility requires long and laborious treatment, which often ends in failure.

A negative reaction of the woman's body to the fetus is also possible if the blood group of the mother and the child does not match. This is observed when the placenta is damaged, when the mother's red blood cells enter the baby's blood.

Video: pregnancy, blood type and Rh-conflict:

Blood transfusion and blood compatibility

Transfusing blood from one person to another is only possible if it is compatible. In this case, first of all, attention is paid to the blood group. If a person is injected with blood that does not suit him according to the AB0 system, then this can lead to his death.

Determination of blood group compatibility has a number of features. This largely depends on the types of antigens A and B. So, Antigens A have such subspecies as A1, A2, A3, A4, A0, Ax, etc. A Antigen B occurs in the form of antigen B1, Bx, B 3, etc. Therefore, these components may simply not converge.

It is also considered outdated to believe that the first blood group is suitable for everyone, without exception, and the fourth blood group is capable of accepting any other blood. Sometimes the first blood group, which does not have antigens A and B, may have a set of a large number of antibodies α and β, which, when they enter the blood of another group (except for the first), begin to provoke adhesion of antigens A and / or B located there.

In modern medical practice, they refuse to transfuse a person with blood of the group that does not combine with him for antigens A and B. Exceptions are extremely rare. In these cases, the first blood group with a negative Rh factor is transfused. To reduce the likelihood of an immunological reaction, erythrocytes are washed 3-5 times. The first positive blood group can be considered universal only if the person also has a positive Rh factor, but any blood group. A compatibility test is preliminarily performed and 3-5 washes of the erythrocyte mass are done.

Most often, people living in Russia have a second positive blood group, and less often - a 4 negative blood group. Therefore, donors with such a group are highly valued by blood banks. After all, a person who has rare blood can die due to the lack of its reserves. Plasma of a person with a negative blood group 4 is suitable for all people without exception, since there is nothing in it, it is 0. However, such blood is very rare.

How to determine the blood group?

To determine a person's blood group, a drop of blood taken from a finger is enough. However, we are talking only about the AB0 system. To determine the Rh factor, Kell, or HLA, blood sampling from a vein is required. If AB0 should be able to be determined by any doctor, including a medical worker who graduated from a secondary educational institution, then the determination of the remaining systems is within the competence of the diagnostician.

The analysis for determining the blood group is performed using standard sera, which are produced in specialized laboratories, or using tsoliclones (they are produced in factories).

To minimize the likelihood of error, blood transfusion stations and other healthcare facilities that perform this procedure use a cross-validation method. Selected standard erythrocytes are used as a reagent.

In newborns, it is difficult to determine the blood group using the cross method, since antibodies α and β begin to be synthesized in children from 6 months, and accumulate in the child's blood in full only by 6-8 years.

The dependence of a person's character on his blood type

Official medicine denies any relationship between a person's blood group and his character.

However, astrologers claim the opposite:

• People with the first blood group are distinguished by courage, determination and strength. They are more often than others leaders, they know how to lead the people, they have good organizational skills. The negative traits of their character include hot temper and aggressiveness.
• People with the second blood group are more balanced, slightly shy, very susceptible to someone else's misfortune. They are economic, love comfort and coziness, but at the same time they are extremely stubborn.
• People with the third blood group are creative natures, they are very sociable, but they cannot endure routine work. They are prone to mood swings, do not have a constant opinion and unambiguous point of view. Such people are dreamers, but rarely achieve their goals, since they change very quickly for them.
• Psychiatrists claim that those with the fourth blood group may have manic tendencies. However, astrologers do not agree with this point of view. They see them as good leaders who can connect with anyone. However, at the same time, they are peculiar, since their mind is in constant struggle with the heart.

Although it is impossible to unequivocally judge the character of a person with a particular blood group. After all, even identical twins have certain differences and individual characteristics.

Diet by blood type

Diet based on blood type was first proposed by Peter DeAdamo, who wrote a whole book on this topic.

However, doctors do not share the opinion that their menu should be built depending on the blood group:

• One can question the fact that originally all people on earth had the first blood group. The author of the diet calls them "hunters" who should eat only meat. Archaeologists and scientists have found that even mummies older than 5 thousand years have group substances A and B. In addition, doctors classify people with the first blood group as the category of citizens who have an increased risk of developing arterial hypertension and stomach ulcers. Therefore, eating meat can be dangerous for them. The author of the book does not speak about this.
• The second blood group is recommended to eat food of plant origin. Considering the fact that the majority of Russians are carriers of the second blood group, it is simply impossible to imagine our country consuming vegetables en masse. Moreover, people with blood group 2 are prone to developing coronary artery disease, thrombophlebitis and rheumatism. They have myocardial infarction more often than others. There is not a word about this in the book of the famous author.
• People with the third blood group belong to nomads and they can eat anything. They have good immunity by nature, but their likelihood of contracting tuberculosis is also high, in comparison with representatives of humanity with a different blood group.
• People with the fourth blood group are advised to eat varied, but in moderation. Doctors point out that such people are more prone to ischemic heart disease and myocardial infarction.

It is strongly discouraged to adhere to any diet during childhood, as the growing body must receive the maximum amount of vitamins and nutrients.

Moreover, a person who decides to adhere to a diet by blood group should remember that in addition to a set of AB0, blood has other systems. They are not discussed in the nutritionist's book. For example, the HLA system can detect a person's tendency to a variety of diseases, but for some reason the author does not take it into account. It would be wiser to base your diet on proven scientific evidence rather than on the assumptions of people whose theories are not medically sound.

Find out more: Diet by blood type: diet essence, food table

The author of the article: Shutov Maxim Evgenievich | Hematologist

Education: In 2013 he graduated from the Kursk State Medical University and received a diploma "General Medicine". After 2 years, completed residency in the specialty "Oncology". In 2016 completed postgraduate studies at the National Medical and Surgical Center named after N. I. Pirogov.