QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Garcia, M. N. Articles by Cook, J. D. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Garcia, M. N. Articles by Cook, J. D.

The Caco-2 Cell Culture System Can be Used as a Model to Study Food Iron Availability^1,2,

University of Kansas Medical Center, Division of Hematology, Department of Medicine, Kansas City, Kansas 66160

To assess the usefulness of the Caco-2 cell culture system as a model to study the availability of dietary iron, preliminary experiments were performed to determine the optimal conditions for iron uptake and transport. Iron uptake of radioactive ferrous sulfate was optimal at pH 5.5 using a 2:1 molar ratio of ascorbic acid to iron and a 1-h incubation time. Under these experimental conditions, we studied the effect on iron uptake of adding supernatants from homogenates of different meat sources, soybean protein isolates, egg albumen and bovine serum albumin. Iron uptake was 6.3 ± 1.7% from meat, which was significantly greater (P < 0.001) than the values of 1.2 ± 0.3% from soybean protein, 1.3 ± 0.3% from egg albumen and 0.8 ± 0.1% from bovine serum albumin. Iron uptake was also significantly higher from digested meat samples than from undigested meat when the protein concentration was equalized. Measurements of iron uptake and protein concentration from fractions obtained after preparative isoelectric focusing of meat and soybean protein extracts showed two peaks of higher protein concentration and iron uptake in meat, apparently not found in soybean protein, that contained the factor(s) responsible for the higher iron uptake by the cells. In view of these observed similarities with iron absorption studies in humans, we conclude that the Caco-2 cell culture system is a useful in vitro model to study food iron availability.

KEY WORDS: • Caco-2 cells • iron absorption • uptake

¹ Supported in part by NIH Grant DK39246.

² The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 USC section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

³ To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Manuscript received 12 May 1995. Revision accepted 27 September 1995.