Evaluation of the suitability of a Sprague Dawley rat model to assess intravenous iron preparations.

The aim of the study was to examine the reproducibility of a rat model to assess the preclinical similarity in safety profiles and tissue accumulation of iron products. Accordingly, the effect of several doses of intravenously administered Venofer® and of Ferrlecit® on blood parameters, and on kidney and particularly liver toxicity were examined in non-anemic Sprague Dawley rats. The different analysis showed neither a clear treatment nor a dose effect after multiple injections. The parameters measured in this rat strain showed some iron induced adverse effects, but these could not be correlated to treatment specific differences. The findings presented in this paper indicate the difficulty to define a useful preclinical model to evaluate iron-based nano-colloidal preparations.
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