Abstract
The objective of the present study was to compare the toxicity and availability of Fe(II) and Fe(III) to Caco-2 cells. Cellular damage was studied by measuring cell proliferation and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release. The activities of two major antioxidative enzymes [superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx)] and differentiation marker (alkaline phosphatase) were determined after the cells were exposed to different levels of iron salts. The cellular iron concentration was investigated to evaluate iron bioavailability. The results show that iron uptake of the cells treated with Fe(II) is significantly higher than that of the cells treated with Fe(III) (P<0.05). Fe(II) at a concentration >1.5 mmol/L was found to be more effective in reducing cellular viability than Fe(III). LDH release investigation suggests that Fe(II) can reduce stability of the cell membrane. The activities of SOD and GPx of the cells treated with Fe(II) were higher than those of the cells treated with Fe(III), although both of them increased with raising iron supply levels. The results indicate that both Fe(II) and Fe(III) could reduce the cellular antioxidase gene expression at high levels.
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Project supported by the International Cooperative Project from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (No. 2006DFA31030), the Bureau of Science and Technology of Zhejiang Province (No. 2006C32019) and HarvestPlus-China (No. 8022), and the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University of China (No. IRT0536)
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He, Wl., Feng, Y., Li, Xl. et al. Availability and toxicity of Fe(II) and Fe(III) in Caco-2 cells. J. Zhejiang Univ. Sci. B 9, 707–712 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.B0820023
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.B0820023