THE KINETICS OF IRON METABOLISM IN SWINE WITH VARIOUS EXPERIMENTALLY INDUCED ANEMIAS

Abstract

Ferro-kinetic studies were made on 3 swine given phenylhydrazine, 3 swine deficient in pyridoxine, and 3 swine deficient in pteroyl-glutamic acid. Body surface radioactivity was measured in 2 pteroylglutamic acid deficient animals. In animals given phenylhydrazine, the mean erythrocyte survival time was 5 days. The plasma Fe turnover rate was increased about 4 fold, and the rate of erythropoiesis was 4 to 5 times greater than in the control pigs. In pyridoxine deficient swine, the mean erythrocyte survival time was within normal limits. The plasma Fe turnover rate was increased 4-fold, but rate of erythropoiesis was about l/4th the normal mean value. These data are interpreted as indicating the anemia associated with this deficiency is a result of inability of the bone marrow to produce a normal number of erythrocytes. In pterbylglutamic acid deficient swine, the mean erythrocyte survival time was 17 days. The plasma Fe turnover rate was 5 times the normal mean value. The rate of erythropoiesis was 1.6 times greater than the mean value in control pigs. Data are interpreted as indicating that anemia develops in this deficiency as a result of a combination of a shortening of erythrocyte survival time and a limitation of capacity of the bone marrow to increase red cell production to the same degree as a normal marrow. Radioactivity in the liver, spleen and bone marrow of the pteroylglutamic acid deficient swine, as determined by measurement of radioactivity over the body surface, declined more slowly than in control pigs.