Acute intestinal iron intoxication. II. Metabolic, respiratory and circulatory effects of absorbed iron salts.

Iron Salts By KURT R. REISSMANN AND THOMAS J. COLEMAN I N THE PRECEDING PAPER’ the true absorptive nature of acute intestinal iron poisoning was pointed out. Following oral or rectal admimiistration of toxic doses of dissociable iron salts, it was found that excessive amounts of iron were absorbed through the anatomically intact intestinal mucosa, resulting in extraordinarily high serum iron levels within one hour after ingestion of the iron salts. These findings indicate that the frequently lethal outcome of acute iron poisoning is not the result of a local necrotizing effect of the ingested iron salts in the gut but is rather due to the toxicity of the absorbed iron. Except for a marked capillary congestion, the autopsy findings in acute cxperiments did not provide any leads as to the site of action of the absorbed iron. In order to obtain such information, a number of vital functions were, therefore, studied in animals with intestinal iron poisoning.