Desferrioxamine‐Induced Urinary Iron Excretion in Normal and Iron‐Deficient Subjects

Abstract

The fraction of intravenously administered desferrioxamine (DF) and radioiron‐labelled ferrioxamine excreted with the urine varied within a narrow range in normal and iron‐deficient subjects. The DF‐induced urinary iron excretion is thus well correlated to the amount of iron chelated in the body. The variation in the amount of iron excreted with the urine after intravenous administration of 10 mg DF/kg body weight was studied in normal and iron‐deficient men and women. The iron excretion was significantly lower in iron‐deficient than in normal subjects, and it was lower in women than in men. The results showed that the iron excretion reflected the iron status of the body.

Iron Stores in Normal Men and Male Blood Donors

“…4) a mean D F value of 0.47 mg/24 h was obtained when the iron stores were zero. This finding indicates that D F derives a fraction of its iron from other sources than the iron stores, which is in agreement with several other reports (1, 11,16,18,24). The DF-induced iron excretion in the group of iron deficiency and anemia (0.35 -1-0.02 mg/24 11) was significantly lower than the mean value of the group mentioned above with depleted iron stores but n o anemia.…”

“…During the last years the desferrioxamine (DF) test has been presented as a convenient and simple method in assessing the iron stores (1,11,20,24,28). In most studies concerning the evaluation of the D F test the iron stores have been assessed by 26 -722996 semiquantitative techniques (1 1,14,24).…”