Fetal and Maternal Relationship in Serum Vitamin E Level

Abstract

This study was carried out on a correlation between simultaneous mater nal and fetal serum vitamin E levels in 112 mothers and cord blood of their infants at delivery. Among the mothers, 55 were supplemented with vitamin E acetate prior to the delivery. The mean serum vitamin E level in the mother's blood and the cord blood was significantly higher in the vitamin E-supplemented group than in the control group, although the difference in the mean level between the two groups was very small in the cord blood, as compared with the maternal blood. A moderate correlation was noted between the cord blood and the mother's blood (r=0.604, 0.522 and 0.567 for the total number of cases, the vitamin E supplemented group and the control group, respectively). Changes in the incidence of the cases with positive erythrocyte hemolysis test in hydrogen peroxide, which were observed in the vitamin-E supplemented group, as compared with the control group, were statistically not signifi cant.It is well known that tocopherol deficiency may be common in newborn infants, especially in premature infants, which leads to a positive hydrogen per oxide erythrocyte hemolysis test. The administration of tocopherol will reverse this phenomenon (1-7). Recently, increased attention has been paid to the role of tocopherol deficiency in the etiology of disorders in the newborn, such as anemia, hemolysis (7-13), edema (7), sclerema (14) and pulmonary injuries result ing from long-term use of therapeutic oxygen of high concentration (15, 16). Many reports indicate that the low serum vitamin E level in the newborn infants is not related to the mother's nutritional status (4, 17), and suggest that it is pro bably due to impaired transport of tocopherol across the placenta. On the other hand, there is a different view concerning the relationship between vitamin E status in newborn infants and that of mothers (18,19). MINK0WSKI et al. (18) showed that the plasma vitamin E level of the infant at birth could be influenced

Selenium and Vitamin E Supplementation of High Moisture Corn Diets for Swine Reproduction

“…The relatively small increase in serum E of piglets at farrowing from E supplemented sows compared with piglets from non-supplemented sows in relation to the piglet serum E following nursing suggests a relatively low rate of transfer of E across the placenta. These observations tend to agree with work of Mino and Nishino (1973) who suggested difficulty in attempting to raise fetal vitamin E by administration of tocopherol to human mothers. Maim et al (1976) observed higher serum a-tocopherol concentrations in unsuckled newborn pigs than in their dams and suggested that considerable placental transport of vitamin E occurs in the pig.…”

The effect of dietary vitamin E and fatty acid supplementation of pregnant and lactating ewes on placental and mammary transfer of vitamin E to the lamb

“…The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of vitamin E and long-chain PUFA supplementation of the pregnant and lactating ewe upon the vitamin E status of the neonatal and growing lamb. Work published by Mino & Nishino (1973), Njeru et al (1994) and Léger et al (1998) concentrated on the relationship between maternal and neonatal plasma concentrations as the principal indicator of vitamin E status and concluded that low plasma concentrations in the neonate are indicative of negligible placental transfer. However, there are few data available regarding the Table 1 and p. 550.…”

β-Carotene breakdown products may impair mitochondrial functions — potential side effects of high-dose β-carotene supplementation

“…Lipid-soluble vitamins were found markedly lower in the cord blood of neonates in comparison with the serum levels of their mothers [101][102][103][104][105]. Carotenoid concentrations in cord blood plasma were reported to be approximately 9-25% of the plasma levels of the mothers [103][104][105].…”