The relationship between high maternal aluminum ingestion and anemia-related hematologic changes in rats

Microcytic, hypochromic anemia in dialysis patients has been associated with aluminum toxicity. Since pregnant women and infants are high-risk groups for iron-deficiency anemia, the purpose of this study was to investigate if high maternal aluminum intake could cause anemia in dams and pups of rats. Eighteen Sprague-Dawley (SD) female weanling rats were arranged in three groups under randomized completely block design (RCBD) experiment design. Control, Low-Al and High-Al groups had 0, 500, 2000 mg Al/kg diet added in the basal diet, respectively, through growing, pregnancy and lactation. Rats were sacrificed after weanling. Results indicated that either body weight gain or feed efficiency was the lowest in High-Al groups dams (P<0.05). The body weights were the same in neonates from mothers with various aluminum intakes. However, the higher the maternal aluminum intakes, the lower the average body weight of weanling pups (P<0.05). There was a positive correlation between Al intake and serum Al concentration, Al intake and milk Al content of dams (r = 0.93 and r = 0.89, respectively; P<0.05). Average milk and serum aluminum concentrations of dams with high aluminum intake were higher than those in the Control and Low-Al groups. Nevertheless, serum aluminum concentration in pups was not different among the three groups. There was no difference in hematocrit (Hct), hemoglobin (Hb) mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), total iron binding capacity, or transferrin saturation among dams. On the other hand, the pups in the High-Al group had the highest Hct and Hb per unit body weight compared with the other groups, probably due to smaller litter size.