RELATIONS BETWEEN MATERNAL IRON STATUS DU RING PREGNANCY AND NEONATALIRON STATUS

Although many studies have investigated the metabolism of iron, there are few data on the relations between maternal iron status during preg nancy and neonatal iron status. These relations are discussed herein a fter a review of the metabolism of iron and ferritin, particularly dur ing pregnancy. The current disagreement about the value of serum ferri tin for evaluating iron stores in neonates attests to the difficulty o f analyzing mother-neonate iron status relations. The placenta plays a key role in protecting the fetus against iron deficiency. Available d ata suggest that neonatal iron stores depend on hemoglobin levels in t he mother and fetus and that maternal iron status influences neonatal iron status, at least during the first few months of postnatal life. A ssays of receptors for transferrin and erythrocyte ferritin in the blo odstream are recent data on neonatal iron stores.