Dissemin is shutting down on January 1st, 2025

Published in

MDPI, Nutrients, 8(14), p. 1653, 2022

DOI: 10.3390/nu14081653

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Gestational Iron Supplementation Improves Fetal Outcomes in a Rat Model of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Published version: archiving allowed
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Prenatal alcohol exposure causes neurodevelopmental disability and is associated with a functional iron deficiency in the fetus and neonate, even when the mother consumes an apparently iron-adequate diet. Here, we test whether gestational administration of the clinically relevant iron supplement Fer-In-Sol mitigates alcohol’s adverse impacts upon the fetus. Pregnant Long-Evans rats consumed an iron-adequate diet and received 5 g/kg alcohol by gavage for 7 days in late pregnancy. Concurrently, some mothers received 6 mg/kg oral iron. We measured maternal and fetal weights, hematology, tissue iron content, and oxidative damage on gestational day 20.5. Alcohol caused fetal anemia, decreased fetal body and brain weight, increased hepatic iron content, and modestly elevated hepatic malondialdehyde (p’s < 0.05). Supplemental iron normalized this brain weight reduction in alcohol-exposed males (p = 0.154) but not female littermates (p = 0.031). Iron also reversed the alcohol-induced fetal anemia and normalized both red blood cell numbers and hematocrit (p’s < 0.05). Iron had minimal adverse effects on the mother or fetus. These data show that gestational iron supplementation improves select fetal outcomes in prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) including brain weight and hematology, suggesting that this may be a clinically feasible approach to improve prenatal iron status and fetal outcomes in alcohol-exposed pregnancies.