1973 Volume 19 Issue 6 Pages 475-482
This study was carried out on a correlation between simultaneous mater-nal and fetal serum vitamin E levels in 112 mothers and cord blood of their infants at delivery. Among the mothers, 55 were supplemented with vitamin E acetate prior to the delivery. The mean serum vitamin E level in the mother's blood and the cord blood was significantly higher in the vitamin E-supplemented group than in the control group, although the difference in the mean level between the two groups was very small in the cord blood, as compared with the maternal blood. A moderate correlation was noted between the cord blood and the mother's blood (γ=0.604, 0.522 and 0.567 for the total number of cases, the vitamin E-supplemented group and the control group, respectively). Changes in the incidence of the cases with positive erythrocyte hemolysis test in hydrogen peroxide, which were observed in the vitamin-E supplemented group, as compared with the control group, were statistically not signifi-cant.