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Iron Deficiency Anemia and Physical Performance and Activity of Rats¹

Department of Physical Education, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90024

White rats were made anemic with an iron-deficient diet or by injections of a hemolytic agent, phenylhydrazine. On 12 out of 13 occasions in four separate experiments the capacity of the rats to endure an exhaustive endurance or sprint run test on a motor-driven treadmill was directly related to their hemoglobin (Hb) concentration and percentage packed cell volume (PCV). The anemic rats on each occasion ran for a significantly shorter time than their controls. On only one occasion was there a difference in performance capacity after normal iron levels were established in previously anemic rats. Furthermore, anemic rats that were housed individually in cages equipped with an adjoining activity wheel were less active voluntarily than their controls. Upon repletion of normal iron levels the difference in activity between the groups was eliminated. Performance as gauged by a forced exhaustive run and by voluntary activity seemed to be more closely related to Hb and PCV than myoglobin or cytochrome levels in skeletal muscle or heart. The explanation that differences in body weight between groups were the critical factor in causing the difference in performance was essentially eliminated. Cardiomegaly in the anemic rats was only suggested by the data. Extensive enlargement of the liver and spleen was caused by repeated phenylhydrazine injections.

KEY WORDS: • anemia • iron-deficiency • activity

¹ Partially supported by U. S. Public Health Service grant N808590 and by J. B. Williams Company, Inc. Computing assistance was obtained from the Health Sciences computing facility, UCLA, sponsored by National Institutes of Health Special Research Resources Grant PR-3. Parts of this material were presented at the American Hematological Society, San Juan, Puerto Rico 1970 and to the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology in 1971 at Chicago, Illinois.

Manuscript received 22 April 1971.