The presence of ochratoxin A in cord serum and in human milk and its correspondence with maternal dietary habits.

BACKGROUND: Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a mycotoxin present in food that can be found in human blood and milk. PURPOSE: The link between the nutritional habits of pregnant women both of Italian and foreign nationality resident in Italy and the presence of ochratoxin A in cord blood and in maternal milk was investigated. METHODS: The study involved 130 pregnant women. Food consumption during pregnancy was evaluated by means of the EPIC questionnaire; OTA content was determined in cord serum and maternal milk by HPLC. RESULTS: The mean daily dietary intake of OTA was 1.02 ± 1.20 and 0.87 ± 0.78 ng/kg of bodyweight for Italian and non-Italian women, respectively, but this difference was not statistically significant. The incidence of positive milk samples was 73.0 and 85.0% among the Italian and non-Italian mothers, respectively. Pork meat, soft drinks, sweets and red wine showed a significant relationship with OTA level in serum. As far as milk is concerned, a positive relationship resulted for pork meat, sweets, soft drinks and seed oils. A positive relationship between serum OTA level and the ratio serum/milk OTA was found. The intake of OTA had no effect on the cord blood creatinine level. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms that OTA is widely present in human milk and therefore could pose a risk for the newborn.

Study of erythrocyte deformability in physiological pregnancy.

In the capillary areas erythrocyte deformability plays a significant part in determining perfusion and exchanges between blood and tissues. In fact, in the capillary areas, when the perfusion pressure diminishes, the erythrocytes no longer follow their linear trajectory movement but proceed randomly, thus favouring the phenomena of aggregation. In pregnancy we find a physiological haemodilution consequent upon the proportionally greater increase in the plasmatic volume in respect to the cellular one. In physiological conditions such haemodilution reaches equilibrium between the plastic and cellular components which, according to data shown would favor erythrocytic distortion and consequently the perfusion of the peripheral areas. The deformability expressed by VRBC increases up to the 26th-28th week of pregnancy, then remains constant until full term.

Can pharmacologic hyperprolactinemia and breast-suction induce lactation in women with normal menstrual cycles?

Six women--age range 21/24--with regular ovulatory cycles, voluntarily underwent with L-Sulpiride (100 mg/die) from the 5th to the 19th day of the cycle. On the 13th, 14th and 15th day of therapy breast suction by syringe breast-pump was performed on each woman every 6 hours and for 4' from either breast. Milk secretion was poor and showed no noticeable increase in the three days of breast suction. L-Sulpiride-induced hyperprolactinemia combined with nipple stimulation-induced increased PRL secretion failed to stimulate milk secretion at a level comparable with physiologic lactation in puerperium.