Zinc deficiency in pregnant rhesus monkeys: effects on behavior of infants.

Zinc deprivation from day 110 to 150 of gestation in rhesus monkeys resulted in rash, alopecia, anorexia, decreased feed efficiency, and low plasma zinc in the mothers. Infants of the dams that had been deprived of zinc during gestation displayed a more rapid postnatal growth rate than infants of the control mothers. Infants of the zinc-deprived dams played and explored less than the control infants. They also associated with their mothers a greater percentage of the time and were less active. This study has shown that third trimester maternal zinc deprivation in nonhuman primates can impair behavioral development of offspring.