AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 262, Issue 2 220-R224, Copyright © 1992 by American Physiological Society
Diminished iron acquisition by cells and tissues of Belgrade laboratory rats
E. A. Farcich and E. H. Morgan
Department of Physiology, University of Western Australia, Nedlands.
Iron uptake from transferrin by a variety of cells and tissues of
homozygous Belgrade laboratory rats was compared with heterozygotes, and
normal and iron-deficient Wistar rats. In all cases the results for
homozygous Belgrade rats were lower than for the other animals. The maximal
rate of iron uptake by fibroblasts cultured in vitro and iron passage to
homozygous fetuses in utero was less than 60% of control values. In vivo
studies of 15-day-old Belgrade rats revealed a defect in the homozygotes
with reduced iron transfer to heart, liver, brain, and femurs. In addition,
adult Belgrade laboratory rats had impaired intestinal iron absorption
compared with the genetically normal animals. It is concluded that the
defect in iron metabolism in the Belgrade laboratory rat is a ubiquitous
one that affects transport of iron across membranes of many types of cells,
resulting in low intracellular iron levels. This suggests that the genetic
defect leads to a widely expressed abnormality in the structure and/or
function of a membrane carrier for iron.
