Neutrophil alkaline phosphatase activity in the early puerperium.

Neutrophil alkaline phosphatase studied cytochemically according to Kaplow's method in 20 healthy women aged 20 to 38 years, shows statistically significant, although transient, increase on the second day after physiological delivery and returns to initial values after several days. The above increase is unrelated to the increased enzyme activity observed in the terminal months of pregnancy in a majority of healthy women. It is associated with an increase in neutrophilic granulocytosis in the puerperial period.