title: Effects of dietary copper deficiency on male offspring of heterozygous brindled mice.
abstract: Female C57BL mice heterozygous for the brindled gene were mated to normal males and fed on a purified diet low in copper throughout gestation and lactation with (+Cu) or without (-Cu) Cu-supplemented drinking water. Male offspring of two genotypes (control, +/y and brindled, Mobr/y) were compared when 10-12 d old. Brindled mice from dams on the -Cu treatment were smaller and had lower packed cell volumes than brindled mice from dams on the +Cu treatment. The -Cu brindled mice were smaller than their littermate brothers (+/y) but had equivalent biochemical features consistent with severe Cu deficiency. Compared with control mice from dams on the +Cu treatment, caeruloplasmin (EC 1.16.3.1) activity was lower in offspring of all three other groups including Mobr/y mice who were not anaemic. Iron levels were similar in organs and bone marrow from all four groups of offspring. When dietary Cu is limiting in brindled mice a more severe Cu deficiency ensues. Thus, appropriate Cu nutriture is important to the management of Menkes' disease in humans, a genetic analogue of the brindled mouse.
authors: Department of Biochemistry, University of Minnesota, Duluth 55812.
authors: J R
authors: JR
authors: Prohaska
mesh_terms: D000740:Anemia / Q000209:etiology; D000818:Animals; D001928:Brain Diseases, Metabolic / Q000378:metabolism*; D003300:Copper / Q000032:analysis / Q000172:deficiency*; D004032:Diet; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D007501:Iron / Q000032:analysis; D008297:Male; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange; D007706:Menkes Kinky Hair Syndrome / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D003300:Copper; D007501:Iron