ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to establish the presence of lead in placenta and umbilical cord blood. The examined group consisted of newborn babies whose mothers used to live in places with high concentration of heavy metal in the air to 10 years before childbirth. Concentration of lead is determined by the method of flame atomic absorptive spectrometry. The result show concentration of lead in blood from umbilical cord 0,695 µmol/l, in placenta 0,505 µg/g. Concentration of lead is higher (of no statistical importance) in the control group than in the examined one which leads us to the conclusion that except in the air there are other important ways of taking metals into the body.

Keywords: lead, umbilical cord blood, placenta

Correspondence to:
Prof. dr Zoran B. Pop – Trajkovic
Clinic for Gynecology and Obstetrics, Clinical centre Nis
Zetska bb. - 18000 Nis
FR Yugoslavia