Effect of zinc deficiency and diet restriction on liver and spleen non‐heme iron concentrations in rats

Abstract

Iron preparation, an important therapeutics for nutritional anemia, is not effective for some subsets of nutritional anemia, i.e., iron refractory anemia. Some researchers reported that oral zinc effectively cured some patients with iron refractory anemia. It is not established that single zinc deficiency induces anemia in humans. We reported before that Zn deficiency depressed plasma erythropoietin (EPO) concentration and kidney EPO concentration in rats. If erythropoiesis is impaired by zinc deficiency, unutilized non‐heme iron (ferritin and hemosiderin) may be accumulated in liver of zinc‐deficient rats. To test the hypothesis, thirty 3‐week‐old male Sprague‐Dawley rats were assigned into 3 groups of 10 for the 4‐week study. Difference between groups was statistically analyzed by Fisher's PLSD. P value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Liver hemosiderin concentration of zinc‐deficient group was marginally increased compared with control group (P=0.052), and significantly increased compared with pair‐fed group (P=0.031). Liver ferritin concentration of zinc‐deficient group was significantly increased compared with control group and pair‐fed group (P<0.0001 each). Spleen non‐heme iron concentrations were not changed among all treatment groups. These results suggest that hepatic iron store was increased by zinc deficiency per se, but not changed by diet restriction. This work was supported by KAKENHI grant‐in‐aid for Research Activity Start‐up (21800073) and Young Scientists (B) (23700928).