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Dietary iron supplementation does not aggravate experimental malaria in young rats.
- Source :
-
The Journal of nutrition [J Nutr] 1996 Feb; Vol. 126 (2), pp. 467-75. - Publication Year :
- 1996
-
Abstract
- The hypotheses that iron-deficient hosts are less susceptible to severe malaria and that iron supplementation aggravates infection have been supported by some clinical and experimental evidence. In the present study, the course of Plasmodium berghei infection was monitored in an experimental model of dietary iron deficiency and iron supplementation. Weanling Wistar rats were fed purified diets with different iron concentrations: 20 mg/kg (Group D, n = 24), 50 mg/kg (Group N, n = 24) and 100 mg/kg (Group S, n = 12). After 15 d, rats from Group D were anemic (mean hemoglobin 81 g/l). The next day, 12 rats from Group D (thereafter Group DS) and 12 rats from Group N (thereafter Group NS) were transferred to the same iron-supplemented diet as in Group S, whereas the remaining animals (Groups D, N and S) were maintained on the original diets for further 14 d. At that time, 9 rats from each group were inoculated intraperitoneally with 10(6) erythrocytic parasites (P. berghei ANKA strain), whereas 3 rats from each group remained as noninfected controls. All animals were killed 14 d after inoculation, when significantly lower levels of hemoglobin, serum iron and percent transferrin saturation were found in infected animals from Group D compared with all other groups. However, the time course of parasitemias was similar in all groups. These data indicate that the development of P. berghei was neither suppressed by iron deficiency nor enhanced by iron supplementation in this model. Furthermore, iron repletion during infection did produce a noticeable improvement of hematological variables in previously iron-deficient animals.
- Subjects :
- Anemia, Iron-Deficiency complications
Anemia, Iron-Deficiency drug therapy
Animals
Body Weight physiology
Disease Models, Animal
Disease Susceptibility
Eating physiology
Erythrocytes parasitology
Erythrocytes pathology
Food, Fortified
Hemoglobins analysis
Incidence
Iron adverse effects
Iron Deficiencies
Malaria complications
Male
Parasitemia complications
Rats
Rats, Wistar
Time Factors
Transferrin analysis
Iron administration & dosage
Malaria etiology
Parasitemia etiology
Plasmodium berghei
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0022-3166
- Volume :
- 126
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- The Journal of nutrition
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 8632220
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/126.2.467