Effects of iron on copper metabolism and copper on iron metabolism in rats.

OWEN, CHARLES A., JR. Effects of iron on copper metabolism and copper on iron metabolism in rats. Am. J. Physiol. 224(3): 514-518. 1973.-Male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed whole-milk powder (Cu ,Fe deficient), milk powder plus Cu in the drinking water (Fe deficient), or milk powder plus iron in the drinking water (Cu deficient). Studies with 67Cu were carried out for the most part after the rats had been on the diet for at least 300 days. Blood hemoglobin decreased in all three groups; the change was fastest in the Cu,Fe-deficient rats and slowest in the Cu-deficient rats. Ceruloplasmin activity decreased to 10% of normal or lower within 3 weeks in the Cu ,Fe-deficient and Cu-deficient rats. Details of organ contents of Cu and Fe in the three groups are given. Intravenously injected 67Cu was retained longer by the Cu-deficient and Cu , Fe-deficient rats. Both groups excreted little 67Cu in their bile. Isolated livers from both groups also excreted very little 67Cu, secreted more ceruloplasmin-J7Cu into the blood, and retained more 67Cu in the liver itself. Fe-deficient rats treated 67Cu normally in all respects, except for a tendency toward greater hepatic uptake of the isotope. Severely copperand irondeficient rats transferred ferric and ferrous 5gFe equally well into the hemoglobin of circulating erythrocytes and did so more rapidly than normal, despite the low levels of plasma ceruloplasmin. Copper-deficient rats accumulated large amounts of iron in their livers.