Blood Types and ABO/Rh Compatibility - Anatomy and Physiology

1. Which antigen is on the red cells, and which antibody is in the plasma, of a person with type A blood?

   A antigens on the red cells and anti-B antibodies in the plasma.

2. How does the origin of anti-D antibodies differ from that of anti-A and anti-B?

   Anti-A and anti-B form naturally in early life; anti-D forms in an Rh-negative person only after exposure to Rh-positive blood.

3. Which blood type is the universal recipient for red blood cells?

   AB positive, whose plasma has no anti-A, anti-B, or anti-D antibodies.

4. Which ABO type is the universal donor for plasma?

   Type AB, because AB plasma contains neither anti-A nor anti-B antibodies.

5. Which blood type is the universal donor for red blood cells?

   O negative, whose red cells lack A, B, and D (Rh) antigens.

6. Parents with genotypes IA i and IB i have a child. What is the probability the child has type O blood?

   1/4. The child must inherit i from each parent: $\frac{1}{2} \times \frac{1}{2} = \frac{1}{4}$.

7. Which ABO antibodies are found in the plasma of a person with type O blood?

   Both anti-A and anti-B, because type O red cells carry neither A nor B antigen.

8. Why does Rh incompatibility, rather than ABO incompatibility, usually cause severe hemolytic disease of the newborn?

   Anti-D is IgG, which crosses the placenta; anti-A and anti-B are mostly IgM, which does not.

9. A patient with type B blood needs red cells. Which ABO types can be given?

   Type B or type O, since the patient's anti-A antibodies would attack A or AB cells.

10. How is Rh sensitization of an Rh-negative mother prevented?

    By giving Rh immune globulin (anti-D) during pregnancy and after delivery, which clears fetal Rh-positive cells before she makes her own antibodies.

11. A sample agglutinates with anti-A and anti-B sera but not with anti-D serum. What is the blood type?

    AB negative. It carries A and B antigens but no D (Rh) antigen.

12. Which maternal and fetal Rh combination puts a pregnancy at risk for hemolytic disease of the newborn?

    An Rh-negative mother sensitized to an Rh-positive fetus, usually affecting a later Rh-positive pregnancy.

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