[Tissue and serum copper concentration in malnourished pregnant rats and in their offspring]

To study copper status in malnourished pregnant rat and its offspring.

Female Wistar rats at age of 90 days and body weight of 200-/+20g were studied. These animals were randomly assigned to one of the 3 pregnant groups: control-PC, malnourished-MP1 (severe malnutrition) and MP2 (mild malnutrition), and their offspring, born by cesarean section, constituted the newborn groups: NBC, MNB1 and MNB2, respectively. The collected tissues (liver, muscle, bone, placenta and carcass) suffered previous liquid digestion, and the copper level, also in serum, was determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry.

The copper level in serum, bone, placenta and liver showed a significant difference between the pregnant groups; in the liver this difference was also significant between newborn groups. The values of the copper in the carcass were statistically lower in the newborn control animals.

There is appropriate offer of maternal copper to the fetus which does not depend on the nutritional state of the mother, because there is a mobilization of the hepatic copper in the pregnant control group and also a mobilization of bone copper in the malnourished pregnant groups; however the intrauterine malnutrition is the one that determines inappropriate utilization of this ion by the fetus.