[Hematologic changes in nutritional lead deficiency].

Abstract

In the present experiments hematological changes could be induced in growing rats by alimentary lead deficiency. The lead-depleted mothers of different generations had already shown a trend to lower values of hematocrit and mean corpuscular volume in comparison with control mothers. In young male rats of the F1-generation from lead-depleted mothers hematocrit was reduced by about 22%, hemoglobin by about 25%, the mean corpuscular volume by about 23%, and the mean corpuscular hemoglobin by about 28% as determined 3 days after weaning in comparison with control rats. Depletion of female rats till the 38th day of life intensified the hematological changes: hematocrit values were reduced by about 14%, hemoglobin by about 32%, the mean corpuscular volume by about 29%, mean corpuscular hemoglobin by about 37%, and the mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration by about 12%. In the F2-generation rats of the depletion group always showed changed hematological values in comparison with control animals. Hematological changes normalized by repletion starting from the day of birth (crossing-over experiment) or the day of weaning (depletion-repletion experiment). In the crossing-over experiment, in which one half of the littermates of the lead-depleted mother and of a control mother were changed among one another on the day of birth, it could be shown that depletion during the fetal stage was decisive for development of hematological changes. Overall, the reproduced hematological changes resulting from lead depletion and their normalization after repletion are- besides the growth depression- a proof of the essentiality of lead.