Increased Iron Absorption without Increase in the Rate of Erythropoiesis

Abstract

IT is generally agreed that under normal conditions in man the total body iron is maintained at a relatively constant level by some mechanism which regulates the amount of iron absorbed from the gastro-intestinal tract. Apart from manipulating intra-luminal conditions within the intestine, numerous experimental conditions are known which increase iron absorption and which have in common an accelerated erythropoietic rate. These include anoxic hypoxia¹, cobalt administration², erythropoietin administration (Mendel, G. A., unpublished observations), pyridoxine deficiency³, acetyl phenylhydrazine induced hæmolytic anæmia⁴ and anæmia induced by loss of blood⁵. The rate of erythropoiesis has been considered of major importance under ‘physiological’ conditions in regulating iron absorption^6,7. In certain disease states, such as hæmochromatosis, however, iron absorption may be increased without measurable increase in erythropoietic rate⁸. It is the purpose of this preliminary communication to report an experimental condition in which gastro-intestinal iron absorption is increased above normal in the virtual absence of erythropoiesis.