Zinc deficiency during the latter third of pregnancy: effects on fetal rat brain, liver, and placenta
McKenzie, J.M.; Fosmire, G.J.; Sandstead, H.H.
Journal of Nutrition 105(11): 1466-1475
1975
ISSN/ISBN: 0022-3166 PMID: 1195011 Document Number: 89548
From the start of pregnancy Sprague-Dawley rats were given a diet which contained Zn <1 mg/kg and had drinking water with 25 mg/litre. From day 14 of pregnancy one group was given demineralized water. They were still fed to appetite; controls were pair-fed or fed to appetite. Rats deprived of Zn showed anorexia, lost weight and had foetuses retarded in growth compared with foetuses from both control groups. Although the brains of foetuses from mothers deprived of Zn were smaller than those of controls, the brain was relatively spared but the liver was severely affected. The total cell number was reduced and there was an apparent increase in cell size in the brains of Zn-deficient foetuses compared with those of controls. The failure to grow of the liver of deprived foetuses resulted in a smaller complement of total DNA, RNA, protein and lipid, and there was less incorporation of [3H] thymidine into DNA in the liver. The placenta seemed to be only slightly affected by Zn deprivation.