Oxidative stress during pregnancy: effect of iron stores and iron supplements

Iron stores in pregnancy.

Serum ferritin concentration has been measured during the course of pregnancy in 154 women. There was a rapid decrease in iron stores during early pregnancy irrespective of any iron therapy. Oral iron did, however, prevent the stores reaching iron deficient levels during the second half of pregnancy. The results suggest that maternal erythroid activity starts early in pregnancy and may exhaust ...

Iron and oxidative stress in pregnancy.

Pregnancy, mostly because of the mitochondria-rich placenta, is a condition that favors oxidative stress. Transitional metals, especially iron, which is particularly abundant in the placenta, are important in the production of free radicals. Protective mechanisms against free radical generation and damage increase throughout pregnancy and protect the fetus, which, however, is subjected to a deg...

Prevalence of iron deficiency states and risk of haemoconcentration during pregnancy according to initial iron stores and iron supplementation.

OBJECTIVE To describe the prevalence of iron depletion (ID), iron-deficiency anaemia (IDA) and risk of haemoconcentration during pregnancy and at delivery and to assess the influence of initial Fe stores and Fe supplementation on that prevalence. DESIGN Longitudinal study. SETTING Hospital Universitari Sant Joan de Reus (Catalonia, Spain). SUBJECTS Two hundred and eighty-five pregnant wom...

Iron Therapy and Oxidative Stress

Iron, Oxidative Stress and Health

Iron is an element of crucial importance to living cells. It has incompletely filled ‘d’ orbitals and exists in a range of oxidation states, the most common being ferrous [Fe II (d6)] and ferric [Fe III(d5)] forms. By virtue of this unique electrochemical property, iron is an ideal redox active cofactor for many biological processes and fundamental biochemical activities in all cells. It can as...