Abstract
Periodic blood transfusion can lead to secondary iron overload in patients with hematologic and oncologic diseases. Iron overload can result in iron deposition in heart tissue, which decreases cardiac function and can ultimately lead to death due to dilated cardiomyopathy and cardiac failure. In this study, we established murine model of secondary iron overload, studied the changes in cardiac function with echocardiography, and examined the histopathologic changes. Three experimental groups of the six week-old C57/BL mice (H-2b) were injected intraperitoneally with 10 mg of iron dextran daily 5 days a week for 2, 4, and 6 weeks. Cumulative doses of iron for the three experimental groups were 100, 200, and 300 mg, while the control groups were injected with the same amounts of phosphate-buffered saline. We studied the cardiac function under anesthesia with echocardiography using a GE Vivid7 Dimension system. Plasma iron levels and liver iron contents were measured. The hearts and livers were harvested and stained with H&E and Perls Prussian blue for iron, and the levels of iron deposit were examined. We assessed the cardiac measurements after adjustment for weight. On echocardiography, thicknesses of the interventricular septum and posterior ventricular wall (PS) during diastole showed correlation with the amount of iron deposit (P < 0.01). End-diastolic volume showed dilatation of the left ventricle in the 300 mg group (P < 0.01). Changes in the fractional shortening were not statistically significant (P = 0.07). Plasma iron levels and liver iron contents were increased proportionally according to the amount of iron loaded. The histopathologic findings of PS and liver showed higher grade of iron deposit proportional to the cumulated iron dose. In this study, we present an animal model which helps understand the cardiac function changes in patients with secondary iron overload due to repeated blood transfusions. Our results may help characterize the pathophysiologic features of cardiomyopathy in patients with secondary iron overload, and our model may be applied to in vivo iron-chelating therapy studies.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abraham NG, Lutton JD (1994) Differential effects of iron and iron carrier on hematopoietic cells differentiation and human ADA gene transfer. Adv Exp Med Biol 356:199–210
Aldouri MA, Wonke B, Hoffbrand AV, Flynn DM, Ward SE, Agnew JE, Hilson AJ (1990) High incidence of cardiomyopathy in beta-thalassaemia patients receiving regular transfusion and iron chelation: reversal by intensified chelation. Acta Haematol 84:113–117
Anderson LJ, Holden S, Davis B, Prescott E, Charrier CC, Bunce NH, Firmin DN, Wonke B, Porter J, Walker JM, Pennell DJ (2001) Cardiovascular T2-star (T2*) magnetic resonance for the early diagnosis of myocardial iron overload. Eur Heart J 22:217–219
Bacon BR, Park CH, Brittenham GM, O’Neill R, Tavill AS (1985) Hepatic mitochondrial oxidative metabolism in rats with chronic dietary iron overload. Hepatology 5:789–797
Barosi G, Arbustini E, Gavazzi A, Grasso M, Pucci A (1989) Myocardial iron grading by endomyocardial biopsy. A clinico-pathologic study on iron overloaded patients. Eur J Haematol 42:382–388
Baumann PQ, Sobel BE, Tarikuz Zaman AK, Schneider DJ (2008) Gender-dependent differences in echocardiographic characteristics of murine hearts. Echocardiography 25:739–748
Crichton RR, Wilmet S, Legssyer R, Ward RJ (2002) Molecular and cellular mechanisms of iron homeostasis and toxicity in mammalian cells. J Inorg Biochem 91:9–18
Davis BA, O’Sullivan C, Jarritt PH, Porter JB (2004) Value of sequential monitoring of left ventricular ejection fraction in the management of thalassemia major. Blood 104:263–269
Delea TE, Hagiwara M, Phatak PD (2009) Retrospective study of the association between transfusion frequency and potential complications of iron overload in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome and other acquired hematopoietic disorders. Curr Med Res Opin 25:139–147
Demant AW, Schmiedel A, Büttner R, Lewalter T, Reichel C (2007) Heart failure and malignant ventricular tachyarrhythmias due to hereditary hemochromatosis with iron overload cardiomyopathy. Clin Res Cardiol 96:900–903
Deugnier Y, Turlin B (2007) Pathology of iron overlaod. World J Gastroenterol 13:4755–4760
Deugnier YM, Turlin B, Powell LW, Summers KM, Moirand R, Fletcher L, Loréal O, Brissot P, Halliday JW (1993) Differentiation between heterozygotes and homozygotes in genetic hemochromatosis by means of a histological hepatic iron index: a study of 192 cases. Hepatology 17:30–34
Freeman AP, Giles RW, Berdoukas VA, Talley PA, Murray IP (1989) Sustained normalization of cardiac function by chelation therapy in thalassaemia major. Clin Lab Haematol 11:299–307
Gabutti V, Borgna-Pignatti C (1994) Clinical manifestations and therapy of transfusional haemosiderosis. Baillieres Clin Haematol 7:919–940
Glickstein H, El RB, Shvartsman M, Cabantchik Z (2005) Intracellular labile iron pools as direct targets of iron chelators: a fluorescence study of chelator action in living cells. Blood 106:3242–3250
Henry WL, Nienhuis AW, Wiener M, Miller DR, Canale VC, Piomelli S (1978) Echocardiographic abnormalities in patients with transfusion-dependent anemia and secondary myocardial iron deposition. Am J Med 64:547–555
Liu P, Olivieri N (1994) Iron overload cardiomyopathies: new insights into an old disease. Cardiovasc Drugs Ther 8:101–110
Lombardo T, Tamburino C, Bartoloni G, Morrone ML, Frontini V, Italia F, Cordaro S, Privitera A, Calvi V (1995) Cardiac iron overload in thalassemic patients: an endomyocardial biopsy study. Ann Hematol 71:135–141
Maeda T, Shimada M, Harimoto N, Tsujita E, Maehara S, Rikimaru T, Tanaka S, Shirabe K, Maehara Y (2005) Role of tissue trace elements in liver cancers and non-cancerous liver parenchyma. Hepatogastroenterology 52:187–190
Mamtani M, Kulkarni H (2008) Influence of iron chelators on myocardial iron and cardiac function in transfusion-dependent thalassaemia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Haematol 141:882–890
McLaren GD, Muir WA, Kellermeyer RW (1983) Iron overload disorders: natural history, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and therapy. Crit Rev Clin Lab Sci 19:205–266
Oudit GY, Sun H, Trivieri MG, Koch SE, Dawood F, Ackerley C, Yazdanpanah M, Wilson GJ, Schwartz A, Liu PP, Backx PH (2003) L-type Ca2+ channels provide a major pathway for iron entry into cardiomyocytes in iron-overload cardiomyopathy. Nat Med 9:1187–1194
Oudit GY, Trivieri MG, Khaper N, Husain T, Wilson GJ, Liu P, Sole MJ, Backx PH (2004) Taurine supplementation reduces oxidative stress and improves cardiovascular function in an iron-overload murine model. Circulation 109:1877–1885
Oudit GY, Trivieri MG, Khaper N, Liu PP, Backx PH (2006) Role of L-type Ca2+ channels in iron transport and iron-overload cardiomyopathy. J Mol Med 84:349–364
Ozment CP, Turi JL (2009) Iron overload following red blood cell transfusion and its impact on disease severity. Biochim Biophys Acta 1790:694–701
Pantopoulos K (2008) Function of the hemochromatosis protein HFE: lessons from animal models. World J Gastroenterol 14:6893–6901
Porter JB (2001) Practical management of iron overload. Br J Haematol 115:239–252
Siah CW, Trinder D, Olynyk JK (2005) Iron overload. Clin Chim Acta 358:24–36
Taher A, El-Beshlawy A, Elalfy MS, Al Zir K, Daar S, Habr D, Kriemler-Krahn U, Hmissi A, Al Jefri A (2009) Efficacy and safety of deferasirox, an oral iron chelator, in heavily iron-overloaded patients with beta-thalassaemia: the ESCALATOR study. Eur J Haematol 82:458–465
Wood JC, Enriquez C, Ghugre N, Otto-Duessel M, Aguilar M, Nelson MD, Moats R, Coates TD (2005) Physiology and pathophysiology of iron cardiomyopathy in thalassemia. Ann NY Acad Sci 1054:386–395
Wood JC, Otto-Duessel M, Gonzalez I, Aguilar MI, Shimada H, Nick H, Nelson M, Moats R (2006) Deferasirox and deferiprone remove cardiac iron in the iron-overloaded gerbil. Transl Res 148:272–280
Zhang D, Okada S, Kawabata T, Yasuda T (1995) An improved simple colorimetric method for quantitation of non-transferrin-bound iron in serum. Biochem Mol Biol Int 35:635–641
Conflict of interest
None.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Moon, S.N., Han, J.W., Hwang, H.S. et al. Establishment of Secondary Iron Overloaded Mouse Model: Evaluation of Cardiac Function and Analysis According to Iron Concentration. Pediatr Cardiol 32, 947–952 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00246-011-0019-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00246-011-0019-4