Women giving birth to a baby may be able to clearly know that it is their own baby, but there may be uncertainty about the birth father of the baby, especially during pregnancy. Some women may have questions during the examination, what does low fetal DNA concentration mean?
The low concentration of fetal DNA mainly refers to the lack of effective fetal DNA information in the peripheral blood of pregnant women extracted in non-invasive DNA paternity testing, which is insufficient to support effective paternity testing judgments. Usually, this examination can help pregnant women over 5 weeks of gestation determine who the physiological father of the fetus in their abdomen is, and only requires drawing venous blood from the pregnant woman.
Due to the small size of the fetus, there may be limited material exchange between the fetus and the mother, resulting in relatively low levels of metabolic substances and DNA released into the peripheral blood of pregnant women. As the fetus grows older, the amount of DNA released into the mother's body will increase. So some women may be notified to provide additional samples during non-invasive DNA paternity testing.
However, non-invasive DNA testing can not only be used for personal identification, but also for fetal screening. By drawing peripheral blood from the mother's body and analyzing the effective DNA fragments of the fetus contained therein, it is possible to screen for genetic diseases or chromosomal abnormalities in the fetus. If the fetal DNA concentration is low, it is recommended that women undergo amniocentesis.
