AJP - Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Vol 267, Issue 6 679-L685, Copyright © 1994 by American Physiological Society
Perinatal hypocuprosis affects synthesis and composition of neonatal lung collagen, elastin, and surfactant
A. B. Abdel-Mageed, R. Welti, F. W. Oehme and J. A. Pickrell
Department of Clinical Sciences, Kansas State University, Manhattan 66506.
To investigate the role of iron, ascorbate, and fructose on copper
depletion and the effect of copper depletion on neonatal lung collagen,
elastin, and surfactant, female rabbits were fed a control diet [10 parts
per million (ppm) copper], a basal marginal copper diet (1.5 ppm), or a
basal diet containing a high concentration of iron (1,750 ppm), ascorbic
acid (1%, wt/wt), or fructose (20% of carbohydrates, wt/wt) or a
combination of iron, ascorbic acid, and fructose throughout gestation.
Whereas 10% of neonates in the control group died in the first 24 h, 27-67%
of the offspring of rabbits fed the marginal copper diet died. Birth weight
was also lower for the pups of the females fed the marginal copper diets.
Lungs of neonates born to females fed iron or ascorbate and marginal copper
diets had low levels of copper, high proportions of acid-extractable,
high-molecular-weight collagen, and low lysyl-oxidase activities,
consistent with incomplete maturation of collagen. The bronchoalveolar
lavage fluids of newborns whose mothers were fed marginal copper diets
alone or in combination with iron and/or ascorbate had lower levels of
total surfactant phospholipids than the fluids from lungs of control
newborns. The lower surfactant phospholipid content of these groups could
be attributed mainly to lower phosphatidylcholine and, in particular,
dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine levels. These results suggest that high
maternal intakes of iron, ascorbate, or their combination in pregnancy
deplete biologically available copper, which in turn induces neonatal lung
abnormalities.
