Iron deficiency of liver, heart, and brain in newborn infants of diabetic mothers

Infants of diabetic mothers frequently have polycythemia, elevated serum erythropoietin concentrations, and decreased serum iron and ferritin concentrations, likely representing a redistribution of fetal iron into erythrocytes to support augmented fetal hemoglobin synthesis. We hypothesized that fetal liver, heart, and brain iron concentrations are also reduced in these infants. After obtaining autopsy tissue from infants who had died before 7 days of age, we measured liver, heart, and brain iron concentrations using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Seven infants of diabetic mothers and seven gestational age-matched control infants were studied. All infants of diabetic mothers had pancreatic islet cell hyperplasia, indicating fetal hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia. Liver iron concentrations in the infants of diabetic mothers were 6.6% of control values (489.0±154.4 vs 7379.7±1473.8 μg/gm dry tissue weight (mean±SEM); p