Abstract
Iron supplementation is one of the principal therapies in inflammatory bowel disease. Iron is a major prooxidative agent; therefore therapeutic iron as well as heme iron from chronic mucosal bleeding can increase the iron- mediated oxidative stress in colitis by facilitating the Fenton reaction, namely production of hydroxyl radicals. In the present study colitis was induced in the iodoacetamide rat model. Forty male Whistar rats were divided into four groups, each group receiving a different diet regimen in parallel with colitis induction: Malondialdehyde was measured to assess the degree of tissue oxidative stress. There were microscopic changes, and significantly more severe colitis was seen in colonic biopsies when iron was supplemented. It was concluded that iron supplementation can amplify the inflammatory response and enhance the subsequent mucosal damage in a rat model of colitis. We suggest that the resultant oxidative stress generated by iron supplementation leads to the extension and propagation of crypt abscesses.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 394-397 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Digestive Diseases and Sciences |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2000 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Manuscript received July 23, 1998; accepted May 28, 1999. From the Department of Pediatrics and Pediatric Gastroenterology; Central Laboratory; and Department of Pathology, The E. Wolfson Medical Center, Holon; and the school of Nutritional Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel. The study was supported in part by The Rafa Laboratories, Israel. Address for reprint requests: Dr. Ram Reifen, Department of Pediatrics, The E. Wolfson Medical Center, Holon, Israel.
Keywords
- Colitis
- Iron
- Oxidative stress
- Rats