Determination of the Sex of Human Abortions by Nuclear Sexing the Cells of the Chorionic Villi

Abstract

Barr and Bertram¹ demonstrated the almost invariable presence of a specific body in the cells of the hypoglossal nuclei of female cats. The subsequent literature on the subject is large and has been very clearly reviewed by Lennox². It seems possible that the technique of sexing cells now available may contribute to the difficult problem of determining the sex ratio in human abortions, and so indirectly to that of the early sex ratio in man. The traditional view that, so far back as can be determined, the male to female sex ratio rises has recently been questioned. Further, only a relatively small proportion, perhaps 10 per cent of embryos of sexable age, can be recovered in human abortions; so that even in respect of embryos larger than 17 mm. direct sexing must be extremely slow and laborious.