title: Effects of nutritional copper deficiency on adult non-pregnant and pregnant rats and their newborns.
abstract: The effects of nutritional copper deficiency on weight gain, food intake and fertility of pregnant and non-pregnant adult Wistar rats, and weight of newborns, were studied. The adult animals were subjected to diets with different copper content (control-5 ppm; moderate deficiency -1.2 ppm; severe deficiency -0.3 ppm) for six weeks (non-pregnant) and nine weeks (pregnant). No effect on weight gain or appetite was seen in the groups of animals subjected to copper deficiency. Fertility, as evaluated by the number of conceptuses and liverborns of the pregnant animals, and weight of newborns also, were not impaired. These data show that not only the extent of deficiency, but also the period during which it is imposed, as well as its duration, condition the appearance of alterations of this deficiency.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Escola Paulista de Medicina, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: M O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Hilário
authors.forename: O M
authors.initials: OM
authors.lastname: Amancio
authors.forename: B R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: dos Santos
authors.forename: C K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Naspitz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001724:Birth Weight; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003300:Copper / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000172:deficiency*; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D005526:Food, Formulated; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009751:Nutritional Requirements; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000503:physiopathology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013997:Time Factors; D015430:Weight Gain
chemical_list: D003300:Copper