The anemia of infection. XI. The effect of turpentine and cobalt on the absorption of iron by the rat.

In a previous’report (1) from this laboratory it was demonstrated that by the simultaneous administration of cobalt the anemia associated with inflammation, as produced by the injection of turpentine, was not only prevented from developing but polycythemia was produced instead. In Paper X of this series (2) it was demonstrated that the absorption of iron from the gastrointestinal tract was decreased in rats in which a bacterial infection was produced. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether sterile (turpentine) abscesses have a similar effect on iron absorption, and, if so, whether the simultaneous administration of cobalt can reverse this effect. Theoretically, the iron incorporated into the newly synthesized hemoglobin of cobalt-treated, turpentine-injected, polycythemic rats could come from either tissue stores or the gastrointestinal tract or from both sources.