RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MATERNAL AND FETAL LIVER COPPER, IRON, MANGANESE, AND ZINC CONCENTRATIONS AND FETAL DEVELOPMENT IN CALIFORNIA HOLSTEIN DAIRY-COWS

Associations between maternal trace element deficiencies and abortion have been made for many mammalian species. Objectives of this study we re to estimate and correlate maternal and fetal hepatic Cu, Fe, Mn, an d Zn concentrations through gestation. Additionally, aborted fetuses, stratified by cause of abortion (infectious or noninfectious), were co mpared to size-matched nonaborted fetuses to examine for magnitude and direction of change in hepatic trace element status. Dam and fetal li ver were removed at slaughter from 103 Holstein dairy cows judged gros sly normal by ante- and postmortem examination. Liver samples were col lected from fetuses submitted by veterinarians for routine diagnosis o f abortion (n = 80). Hepatic Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn concentrations were de termined by flame spectrophotometry. Comparisons of groups, estimation s of correlations, and derived prediction equations were made by least -squares methods. Maternal liver Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn concentrations did not vary during gestation. Compared with the dam, fetal liver Fe and Zn concentrations were higher (P < 0.05), fetal Cu concentrations were similar (P > 0.05), and fetal liver Mn concentrations were lower (P < 0.05). As fetal size increased, fetal liver Cu and Zn concentrations increased (P < 0.05), fetal liver Fe concentration decreased (P < 0.05 ), and fetal liver Mn did not change (P > 0.05). Aborted fetuses had l ower liver Cu, Mn, and Zn concentrations than did nonaborted fetuses ( P < 0.05). Liver Fe concentration was lower in aborted fetuses than in nonaborted fetuses in the second trimester only (P < 0.05). Consisten tly lower liver Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn concentrations in aborted fetuses s uggest a nonspecific change in trace element status, which implies an effect of abortion, not a cause of abortion.