IRON CONCENTRATION AND DISTRIBUTION IN THE NEWBORN LIVER

Recent observations on a correlation between fetal serum ferritin and gestational age, consistent with an increase in fetal iron stores duri ng pregnancy, led us to study liver iron content in 22 human stillborn s, newborns and infants of different gestational and postnatal age. At autopsy, a longitudinal liver slice was subdivided into ten blocks. E ach sample was analyzed for iron content by atomic absorption spectros copy. The mean iron concentration in the studied livers was 21.6 mu M/ g dry tissue (d.t.). A striking interindividual variability in iron co ntent was observed: the hepatic concentration of the metal ranged from 3.3 to 64.4 mu M/g d.t. No correlation was found between the hepatic iron concentration and gestational age or other clinical parameters of the patients studied. Moreover, the total storage iron of the liver d id not appear to be correlated with the gestational age. The analysis of iron concentration in ten blocks in each liver revealed an irregula r distribution of the metal. Lobar differences were observed, with a t endency of the left lobe to accumulate more iron than the right one. F urthermore, striking differences in iron content were found between ad jacent liver samples, ranging in one instance from 4.5 up to 109.0 mu M/g of dry tissue. Perls' stain for iron was positive in 7 out of the 22 livers examined, showing an irregular acinar distribution, with pre ferential periportal localization. Our data show that the newborn live r can be considered an interesting model for the study of iron storage . The observed uneven distribution of the metal, even in the absence o f fibrosis normally associated with iron storage in adults, casts doub t on the interpretation of iron concentration of a small liver sample as representative of the mean hepatic iron concentration.