Effects of iron on copper metabolism and copper on iron metabolism in rats
Owen, C.A.
American Journal of Physiology 224(3): 514-518
1973
ISSN/ISBN: 0002-9513 PMID: 4691262 Document Number: 67130
Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 150 g were given a diet of milk powder deficient in Cu and Fe with distilled water alone or containing 200 mg ferrous sulphate/litre or 20 mg cupric acetate/litre. After the rats had been on the diets for about 300 days they were given 67Cu as cupric chloride by vein and whole body 67Cu was counted; in some rats bile was collected for 5 h after the injection. Isolated livers were perfused with blood to which 67Cu had been added. Other deprived and normal rats had injections of 59Fe as ferric chloride or ferrous citrate by vein and blood samples were collected for 3 to 4 days. Blood Hb fell in all 3 groups; the change was most rapid in rats deprived of Cu and Fe and slowest in those deprived of Cu only. Coeruloplasmin activity fell to 10% of normal or below within 3 weeks in all rats deprived of Cu. The Cu supplement kept Cu about normal in most organs and above normal in liver and kidneys. Fe in those rats was about the same as in those deprived of Cu and Fe. When the Fe supplement was given there was significant rise in Fe in liver and testes but depletion in marrow, large intestine, erythrocytes and plasma. 67Cu was retained longer by the groups deprived of Cu than those given Cu; both groups excreted little 67Cu in bile. Isolated livers of those deprived of Cu excreted little 67Cu, secreted more coeruloplasmin-67Cu in blood and retained more 67Cu in the liver than in that of those given Cu. Rats deprived of Fe treated 67Cu normally in all respects except for a tendency towards greater liver uptake. Rats deprived of Cu and Fe transferred ferric and ferrous 59Fe equally well into Hb of circuiting erythrocytes and did so more rapidly than normal, despite low values for plasma coeruloplasmin.