[Zinc levels of maternal serum and umbilical venous blood in normal, small-for-gestational age and large-for-gestational-age infants].

The zinc concentration of the cord blood was measured in several thousand cases. 482 pregnant women were randomised and evaluated right after the delivery. The newborn's weight were normal in 241 cases, while 241 mothers delivered intrauterine retarded babys. The zinc concentration of the sera was significantly higher in this second group. Following the maternal serum zinc measurement the cord blood zinc concentration was established in 182 cases. The zinc content of the 91 intrauterine retarded newborn's cord blood was significantly lower than in their maternal sera respectively comparing the normal newborns with the retarded newborns the maternal serum zinc concentration was higher than the cord blood's. The 59 large-for-dates newborns (higher than 4 000 g) and the 56 normal newborns showed no difference either in the maternal or in the cord blood zinc concentration.