Maternal and cord blood ferritin

Helvetica Paediatrica Acta
|June 1, 1982
PubMed

The levels of plasma iron, transferrin saturation and ferritin in cord blood of 64 newborns were found to be elevated relative to the corresponding maternal blood. There was no correlation between the levels of plasma iron, transferrin saturation or ferritin in cord and maternal blood. No correlation was found in cord blood between the hemoglobin levels or red cell indices (MCV, MCH and MCHC) with the levels of ferritin. These results suggest that there is an active process of transfer for iron from mother to the fetus, and this transport is independent of fetal erythropoiesis.