Iron Deficiency in Growing Male Rats: A Cause of Development of Cardiomyopathy

Abstract

Weanling male rats were fed a purified iron-adequate, a purified iron-deficient or a commercial diet for 12 weeks. At that time the rats were sacrificed, their hearts and livers were excised, and blood samples were taken. Heart and liver weights were recorded; organ tissue and serum samples were analyzed for Zn, Cu and Fe. Hemoglobin and hemat-ocrit values were also obtained. The iron-deficient rats grew much more slowly than controls on the iron-adequate or commercial diets. The iron-deficient rats were severely anemic and had enlarged hearts (cardiomegaly). A histopathologic examination of the hearts of all animals showed that each heart of the iron-deficient rats had lesions characteristic of cardiomyopathy by dilatation, whereas none of the hearts of the iron-adequate group or the chow controls showed any lesions at all. The iron-deficient animals had only about 25% of the hepatic iron found in the iron-adequate animals but about 5 times the hepatic copper of the latter group or the chow controls. Heart iron of the iron-deficient group was 27% of the concentration found in hearts of the iron-adequate rats; heart copper was similar in all groups. Animals on the commercial stock diet accumulated significantly more iron in their hearts than did those on the purified iron-adequate diet but not in the livers. There was also a direct correlation of heart iron or heart zinc with log concentrations of dietary iron and consequently a direct correlation between heart iron and zinc concentrations.

Lethal Cardiomyopathy in Mice Lacking Transferrin Receptor in the Heart

“…Iron deficiency has been implicated in the pathogenesis of heart failure, even in the absence of frank anemia, but previous animal models of cardiomyopathy have involved systemic iron deficiency (Medeiros and Beard, 1998; Petering et al, 1990), which also causes anemia, confounding the interpretation of the role of iron in the heart. In the course of elucidating how cardiomyocytes assimilate iron, we developed a mouse mutant that allowed us to examine the consequences of isolated cardiac iron deficiency.…”

“…Up to 50% of patients with heart failure are iron deficient, and iron deficiency is associated with poor outcomes (Erbel et al, 2003). Severe iron deficiency causes cardiomyopathy in animals (Medeiros and Beard, 1998; Petering et al, 1990) but previous studies have neither dissociated cardiac iron deficiency from systemic iron deficiency with anemia nor investigated its cellular consequences.…”

Evaluation of cardiac autonomic functions in Children with Thalassemia Trait, Iron Deficiency Anemia and Iron Deficiency

“…Moreover, as far as we are concerned, there are no HRV studies in the literature related to patients with TT. There is increased evidence as to anemia leading to cardiac diseases and death in adults (24,25). Decreased HRV in cardiac patients was independently shown to be associated with sudden cardiac death and mortality.…”

Oral Iron Therapy for Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction

“…Initial single-center trials focused on patients with HFrEF and iron deficiency anemia, and consistently observed improvements in peak VO 2 , patient global assessment (PGA) scores, and NT-BNP levels. 19,20 Correction of iron deficiency has also been shown to have direct effects on myocardial contractility. 7 Two meta-analyses 44, 45 reported significant improvement in echocardiography-derived LVEF with iron therapy (mean improvement +5%).…”