[Copper in the normal and diabetic pregnancy and in the perinatal period]

Abstract

A brief analysis of copper metabolism demonstrates that coeruleoplasmine, an enzyme synthesized by the liver, contains approximately 90 p. cent of the serum copper. There are major alterations of copper metabolism during pregnancy. Copper and coeruleoplasmine concentrations increase from the sixth week, reaching particularly high levels during the third trimester before returning to normal six weeks after delivery. The copper concentration in the cord serum is much lower than that of the maternal plasma. The mechanism of this placenteal transfer is unknown. There is a reserve form of copper which is specific to the fetus and the newborn, represented by the neonatal mitochondrocupreine of the liver. Elevated levels of maternal serum copper would be the result of the mobilisation of copper stocked in the liver an other tissues. The copper needs would then be increased in order to restore the reserves. Since diabetes mellitus is a major cause of maternal and perinatal complications, the first results of the serum copper obtained, in Nantes, in diabetic insulin-dependent pregnant women, in the cord blood and in newborns, are presented. A review of the current knowledge of copper in the maternal milk concludes this study.