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Iron Metabolism in Genetically Obese (ob/ob) Mice^1,2,

Vitamin and Mineral Nutrition Laboratory, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, MD 20705 ^* Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061

Several reports in the clinical literature suggest that obese children may be at risk for developing iron deficiency. Here the absorption, retention, tissue distribution and tissue levels of iron were compared in lean (+/?) and obese (ob/ob) C57BL/6J mice to examine the impact of obesity on the iron status of this animal model. Obese mice absorbed and retained approximately twice as much ⁵⁹Fe as lean mice after receiving a solution containing 1 µmol iron per os. This difference was independent of age, severity of obesity and mass of the gastrointestinal tract. Obese mice fed ad libitum had higher levels of ⁵⁹Fe in blood and fat pads, but lower amounts of ⁵⁹Fe in the skeletal-muscular system, than lean mice 6 d after subcutaneous injection of 1 µmol of the metal. At least 30% of carcass ⁵⁹Fe was present in the liver of obese and lean mice 6 d after injection. Despite significantly lower concentrations of iron in liver and bone, blood hemoglobin and hematocrit were significantly higher in obese mice fed and libitum than in lean mice at 10 wk of age. Plasma iron and transferrin were not affected by chronic obesity. Although several characteristics of iron metabolism differed in obese and lean mice, the results indicate that ob/ob mice were not iron deficient when fed a diet containing an adequate level of this micronutrient. The increased absorption of iron by obese mice probably represents an adaptive response that is required to supply additional micronutrient for the expanded blood volume in these animals.

KEY WORDS: • iron • iron absorption • iron metabolism • obesity • ob/ob mice • hemoglobin

¹ This work was funded in part by U.S. Department of Agriculture Competitive Research Grants Program (85-CRCR-1610). M.L.K. and M.L.C. were supported by the John L. Pratt Animal Nutrition Program at VPI & SU.

² Presented in part at the 71st Annual Meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Washington, DC, March 29–April 2, 1987 [Failla, M. L., Kennedy, M. L. & Chen, M. L. (1987) Effect of chronic obesity on the absorption and tissue distribution of iron in ob/ob mice. Fed. Proc. 46: 913 (abs.)].

³ Address correspondence to Mark Failla at Vitamin and Mineral Nutrition Laboratory, Bldg. 307, BARC-East, USDA, Beltsville, MD 20705.

⁴ Current address: Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis, CA 95616.

Manuscript received 17 June 1987. Revision accepted 3 September 1987.

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