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Nickel Deprivation in Rats: Nickel-Iron Interactions^1,2,

United States Department of Agriculture, Science and Education Administration, Human Nutrition Laboratory, and Department of Biochemistry, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58201

Effects of form and amount of dietary iron, and of ammonium pyrolidine dithiocarbamate (APDC) in the diet on the signs of nickel deprivation in rats were tested in three experiments. Pregnant rats were fed diets containing 10 to 16 ng of nickel/g. Dietary iron was supplied as ferric chloride (30 µg/g of diet), ferric sulfate (30 µg, or 60 µg/g of diet) or ferric sulfate (60 µg/g of diet) plus 10 µg of APDC/g of diet. Controls for each group were given a supplemental 20 µg of nickel/g of diet as NiCl₂·3H₂O. Previously reported signs of nickel deprivation in F₁ and F₂ offspring, such as depressed growth and hematocrits, were altered by the dietary modifications. Severe iron deficiency appeared to be more detrimental to the nickel-supplemented than to deficient rats as their growth was more severely depressed and their perinatal mortality was increased. However, when dietary iron was only borderline deficient, or adequate, nickel-deprived rats did not perform as well as nickel-supplemented controls. The number and severity of the signs of nickel deprivation, especially in the F₂ generation, increased when dietary iron was supplied at 60 µg/g as ferric sulfate instead of 30 µg/g as ferric chloride. Depressed levels of liver glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) in 30-day old nickel-deprived rats, as described by other investigators, were not found in the animals. In nickel-deprived rats fed APDC, G6PD activity was elevated at 50 to 70 days of age. Depressed levels of liver malate dehydrogenase (MDH) in 30-day old rats, and elevated levels of liver MDH in 50-day old rats, as described by other investigators, were found only in F₂ generation nickel-deprived pups fed 60 µg of Fe/g of diet as ferric sulfate. The iron status of the rat apparently influences the extent and severity of the signs of nickel deprivation.

KEY WORDS: • nickel • iron • interaction • glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase • malate dehydrogenase • ammonium pyrolidine dithiocarbamate

¹ Supported in part by the USDA Cooperative Agreement No. 12-14-3001-294.

² Presented in part at the XIth International Congress of Nutrition, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 27 to September 1, 1978.

³ Research Chemist, United States Department of Agriculture, Science and Education Administration. Human Nutrition Laboratory, Grand Forks, North Dakota.

⁴ Department of Biochemistry, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Manuscript received 12 May 1978.