[Science Update] Intervention of iron supplements for iron deficiency anemia during pregnancy

Establishment of IDA model group (IDAG)

• 5-week-old female Wistar rats
• Received an 8-week treatment with low iron diet, deionized water and weekly bloodletting
• With haemoglobin content <90 g/L were considered as IDA
• Subsequently mated with 5-week-old male Wistar rats
   

Intervention

• After pregnancy, rats in IDAG were fed diets containing 3 different iron supplements until offspring turned 42 days old
  • Ferrous sulfate (FS)
  • Iron protein succinylate (IPS)
  • Iron polysaccharide complex (IPC)
• Randomly divided into 7 groups except normal control group (NG)
  • IDAG
  • Low dose of IPC at iron dose of 30 mg·kg⁻¹ (IPC-L)
  • High dose of IPC at iron dose of 50 mg·kg⁻¹ (IPC-H)
  • Low dose of IPS at iron dose of 30 mg·kg⁻¹ (IPS-L)
  • High dose of IPC at iron dose of 50 mg·kg⁻¹ (IPS-H)
  • Low dose of FS at iron dose of 30 mg·kg⁻¹ (FS-L)
  • High dose of FS at iron dose of 50 mg·kg⁻¹ (FS-H)
     

Effects of iron supplementation on maternal rats
(When compared to those in IDAG)

• Significantly improved pregnancy outcomes
• Improved immune-inflammatory status which has been altered by IDA
• Increased levels of serum iron (SI), transferrin saturation (TS) and serum ferritin (SF)
• Significantly decreased level of total iron binding capacity (TIBC)
• Iron stores in the liver and spleen increased upon iron supplementation
   

Effects of iron supplementation on offspring
(When compared to those in IDAG)

• The levels of HGB, HCT, MCV, CHCM and CH^# were higher than those in IDAG
• The level of RDW^# was significantly lower
• The immune-inflammatory status of offspring of IDA rats was improved
• The onset time of surface righting reflex, cliff avoidance, negative geotropism and air righting reflex was significantly earlier, with no significant difference with NG
• Improved spatial learning ability which has been affected by IDA
• Improved abnormal and retarded neurodevelopment of IDA offspring by increasing protein expression of SYN1, NMDAR and PSD-95
   

^#HGB = haemoglobin; HCT = hematocrit; MCV = mean corpuscular volume; CHCM = cell haemoglobin concentration mean; CH = haemoglobin content of red blood cell; RDW = red cell volume distribution width

Link to the full article:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7809104/pdf/41598_2020_Article_79971.pdf
 

Reference:

Zhang Q et al. Adverse effects of iron deficiency anemia on pregnancy outcome and offspring development and intervention of three iron supplements. Sci Rep. 2021;11(1):1347.
 

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