Oxidant/antioxidant status of placenta, blood, and cord blood samples from pregnant women supplemented with iron.

Objective: In this study, it was aimed to investigate oxidant/antioxidant status in placenta and in blood and cord blood samples from pregnant women supplemented with iron during pregnancy.

Methods: For this purpose, 27 pregnant women at admission for delivery participated in the study. Fifteen of them did not take iron tablets and the others took oral iron supplements during pregnancy. Following delivery, part of the placenta and blood and cord blood samples were taken from the mothers. In these samples, oxidant parameters (malondialdehyde [MDA] levels and xanthine oxidase [XO] activities) and antioxidant parameters (antioxidant potential [AOP] values, superoxide dismutase [SOD], catalase [CAT] and glutathione peroxidase [GSH-Px] activities) were studied.

Results: It was found that MDA level and SOD activities increased significantly in the placentas from the iron-supplemented group as compared with those from the control group. We also observed that activities of SOD and XO enzymes in maternal erythrocytes, XO in cord blood erythrocytes and GSH-Px activities in cord blood plasma decreased significantly. However, activities of CAT and GSH-Px enzymes in cord blood erythrocytes and MDA levels in maternal plasma increased in the iron-supplemented group as compared with those from the control group.

Conclusion: Increased MDA levels in the maternal plasma and the placenta in the iron-supplemented group suggests that iron supplementation may contribute to increased oxidative stress in women taking iron supplements during pregnancy.