Effect of Gestation and Maternal Copper on the Fetal Fluids and Tissues Copper Concentrations in Sheep
- 1 Benha University, Egypt
- 2 Cuautitlan UNAM, Mexico
Abstract
Problem statement: Samples of allantoic, amniotic fluid, fetal liver, kidney, maternal plasma and liver were collected from 30 ewes and classified into either early or late gestation and copper concentrations were measured. Approach: The Cu concentrations in the maternal plasma, allantoic, amniotic fluid, fetal liver and kidney increased significantly (p<0.01) during late gestation while maternal liver Cu decreased significantly (p<0.01). Results: Significant positive relationships were recorded between age of the fetus and Cu concentrations in the allantoic and amniotic fluid (r = 0.71-0.83, p<0.001), fetal liver (r = 0.80, p<0.001), kidney (r = 0.59, p<0.01) and maternal plasma (r = 0.75, p<0.001). Significant (p<0.01) positive relationships were also recorded between the Cu concentrations in the amniotic, allantoic fluid and maternal plasma with fetal liver Cu concentrations (r = 0.36-0.73), the maternal plasma and liver Cu concentrations were significantly negative correlated (r = -42, p<0.05). Conclusion: A significant negative correlation was recorded between the Cu concentrations in the maternal liver and fetal age (r = -0.74, p<0.01). Strong fetal-maternal relationships in Cu concentration were evident throughout the gestational period and dams seem to sacrifice Cu levels in order to maintain that in the fetus. Cu concentrations in the amniotic and allantoic fluids could be used as a possible indicator of the Cu status of the fetus throughout gestation.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3844/ajavsp.2011.88.92
Copyright: © 2011 Abd Elghany Hefnawy, Jorge Tortora-Perez, Saad Mohamed Shousha and Seham Youssef AbuKora. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
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Keywords
- Maternal copper
- fetal fluids
- amniotic fluid
- fetal liver
- maternal plasma
- Cu concentration