Effect of regular Exercise and iron injection on iron status of anemic obese male rats.

Abstract

Many animal studies have reported an association between obesity and reduced iron storage. Systemic chronic inflammation induced by obesity and higher hepcidin levels has been suggested as a reason for the iron deficiency that occurs with obesity. Hepcidin is a master regulator of systemic iron homeostasis. Hepcidin is a peptide hormone, produced mainly from the liver. It inhibits intestinal iron absorption. The hepatic production of hepcidin is up-regulated by pro-inflammatory cytokines. An exercise is an effective approach for controlling obesity. Several studies showed that exercise reduced body weight. So this study hypothesized that regular exercises may be used as an adjuvant line in treating iron deficiency associated with obesity via reducing serum hepcidin. Materials and methods: 75 young male albino rats were categorized into 5 groups. Obesity was induced by high-fat diet (HFD) for 3 months in Group II, III, IV, and V. After 12 weeks, Rats of GIII and GV were injected once every 2 days with iron-III poly-maltose 50 ml/kg for 2 weeks. treadmill regular exercise was performed for 8 weeks for rats of GIV and GV. Measurement of body weight was done after 3 months of HFD and at the end of the experiment. Biochemical analysis was done for serum iron and serum hepcidin. Results: Measurement of body weight showed that exercise has a decreasing effect on body weight in obese rats. Exercise decreased serum hepcidin levels in obese rats and increased serum iron. Conclusion: Exercise decreases serum hepcidin level also improves the serum iron level in obese rats.Exercise, hepcidin, obesity, serum iron.