Abstract
Severe iron deficiency affects lipid metabolism. To investigate whether moderate iron depletion also alters lipid variables—including lipid levels in serum and liver, hepatic lipogenesis, and fatty acid composition indicative of an impaired desaturation—we carried out experiments with rats fed 9, 13, and 18 mg iron/kg diet over a total of 5 wk. The study also included three pair-fed control groups and an ad libitum control group, fed with 50 mg iron/kg diet. The iron-depleted rats were classified as iron-deficient on the basis of reduced serum iron, hemoglobin concentration, and hematocrit. All moderately iron-deficient rats had significantly lower cholesterol concentrations in liver and serum lipoproteins than their pair-fed controls. Rats with the lowest dietary iron supply had higher concentrations of hepatic phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), lower activities of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, malic enzyme and fatty acid synthase, and higher triacylglycerol concentrations in serum lipoproteins than the corresponding pair-fed control rats. Moderate iron deficiency also depressed the serum phospholipid level. Moreover, several consistent significant differences in fatty acid composition of hepatic PC and PE occurred within moderate iron deficiency, which indicate impaired desaturation by Δ-9 and Δ-6 desaturases of saturated and essential fatty acids. We conclude that lipid variables, including cholesterol in liver and serum lipoproteins as well as fatty acid desaturation, reflect the gradations of iron status best and can be used as an indicator of the degree of moderate iron deficiency.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- HDL:
-
high density lipoprotein
- PC:
-
phosphatidylcholine
- PE:
-
phosphatidylethanolamine (diacyl)
- VLDL:
-
very low density lipoprotein
References
Guthrie, H.A., Froozani, M., Sherman, A.R., and Barron, G.P. (1974) Hyperlipidemia in Offspring of Iron-Deficient Rats, J. Nutr. 104, 1273–1278.
Amine, E.K., Desilets, E.J., and Hegsted, D.M. (1976) Effect of Dietary Fats on Lipogenesis in Iron Deficiency Anemic Chicks and Rats, J. Nutr. 106, 405–411.
Sherman, A.R., Guthrie, H.A., Wolinsky, I., and Zulak, I.M. (1978) Iron Deficiency Hyperlipidemia in 18-Day-Old Rat Pups: Effects of Milk Lipids, Lipoprotein Lipase and Triglyceride Synthesis, J. Nutr. 108, 152–162.
Rao, G.A., Manix, M., and Larkin, E.C. (1980) Reduction of Essential Fatty Acid Deficiency in Rats Fed a Low Iron Fat Free Diet, Lipids 15, 55–60.
Cunnane, S.C., and McAdoo, K.R. (1987) Iron Intake Influences Essential Fatty Acid and Lipid Composition of Rat Plasma and Erythrocytes, J. Nutr. 117, 1514–1519.
Johnson, S.B., Kramer, T.R., Briske-Anderson, M., and Holman, R.T. (1989) Fatty Acid Pattern of Tissue Phospholipids in Copper and Iron Deficiencies, Lipids 24, 141–145.
Eder, K., Kirchgessner, M., and Kralik, A. (1996) The Effect of Trace Element Deficiency (iron, copper, zinc, manganese and selenium) on Hepatic Fatty Acid Composition in the Rat, Trace Elem. Electrol. 13, 1–6.
Sherman, A.R. (1978) Lipogenesis in Iron-Deficient Adult Rats, Lipids 13, 473–478.
Reeves, P.G., Nielsen, F.H., and Fahey, G.C., Jr. (1993) AIN-93 Purified Diets for Laboratory Rodents: Final Report of the American Institute of Nutrition Ad Hoc Writing Committee on the Reformulation of the AIN-76A Rodent Diet, J. Nutr. 123, 1939–1951.
National Research Council (1985) Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, Publication No. 85-23 (rev.), National Institutes of Health, Bethesda.
Hara, A., and Radin, N.S. (1978) Lipid Extraction of Tissues with a Low-Toxicity Solvent, Anal. Biochem. 90, 420–426.
Eder, K., Reichlmayr-Lais, A.M., and Kirchgessner, M. (1992) Simultaneous Determination of Amounts of Major Phospholipid Classes and Their Fatty Acid Composition Using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography and Gas Chromatography, J. Chromatogr. 598, 33–42.
Morrison, W.R., and Smith, L.M. (1964) Preparation of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters and Dimethylacetals from Lipids with Boron Fluoride-Methanol, J. Lipid Res. 5, 600–608.
Eder, K., and Kirchgessner, M. (1996) The Effect of Dietary Fat on Activities of Lipogenic Enzymes in Liver and Adipose Tissue of Zinc-Adequate and Zinc-Deficient Rats, J. Nutr. Biochem. 7, 190–195.
Eder, K., Reichlmayr-Lais, A.M., and Kirchgessner, M. (1991) Gas Chromatographic Analysis of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters: Avoiding Discrimination by Programmed Temperature Vaporizing Injection, J. Chromatogr. 588, 265–272.
De Hoff, J.L., Davidson, L.H., and Kritchevsky, V. (1978) An Enzymatic Assay for Determining Free and Total Cholesterol in Tissue, Clin. Chem. 24, 433–453.
Deutsch, J. (1983) Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase, in Methods of Enzymatic Analysis (Bergmeyer, H.U., ed.) Vol. 3, pp. 190–197, Verlag Chemie, Weinheim.
Horecker, B.L., and Smyrniotis, P.Z. (1955) 6-Phosphogluconic Dehydrogenase, Methods Enzymol. 1, 323–327.
Hsu, R.Y., and Lardy, H.A. (1969) Malic Enzyme, Methods Enzymol. 8, 230–235.
Roncari, D.A.K. (1981) Fatty Acid Synthase from Human Liver, Methods Enzymol. 71, 73–78.
Takeda, Y., Suzuki, F., and Inoue, H. (1969) ATP Citrate Lyase (Citrate-Cleavage Enzyme), Methods Enzymol. 13, 259–264.
Kupke, I.R., and Wörz-Zeugner, S. (1986) Sequential Microultracentrifugation of Lipoproteins in 100 μL of Serum, J. Lipid Res. 27, 988–995.
Terpstra, A.H.M., Woodward, C.J.H., and Sanchez-Muniz, F.J. (1981) Improved Techniques for the Separation of Serum Lipoproteins by Density Gradient Ultracentrifugation: Visualization by Prestaining and Rapid Separation of Serum Lipoproteins from Small Volumes of Serum, Anal. Biochem. 111, 149–157.
Sochor, M., Baquer, N.Z., and McLean, P. (1982) Bio-Inorganic Regulation of Pathways of Carbohydrate and Lipid Metabolism II. The Effect of Iron-Deficiency on the Profile of Enzymes in the Developing Rat Adrenal Gland, Enzyme 27, 149–155.
Amine, E.K., and Hegsted, D.M. (1971) Iron Deficiency Lipemia in the Rat and Chick, J. Nutr. 101, 1575–1582.
Lewis, M., and Iammarino, M. (1971) Lipemia in Rodent Iron-Deficiency Anemia, J. Lab. Clin. Med. 78, 546–554.
Sherman, A.R. (1979) Serum Lipids in Suckling and Post-Weanling Iron-Deficient Rats, Lipids 14, 888–892.
Rao, G.A., Crane, R.T., and Larkin, E.C. (1983) Reduced Plasma Lecithin Cholesterol Acyl Transferase Activity in Rats Fed Iron Deficient Diets, Lipids 18, 673–676.
Goodman, J.R., Warshaw, J.P., and Dallman, P.R. (1970) Cardiac Hypertrophy in Iron and in Copper Deficiency: The Quantitiative Contribution of Mitochondrial Enlargement, Pediat. Res. 4, 244–256.
Stangl, G.I., and Kirchgessner, M. (1998) Effect of Different Degrees of Moderate Iron Deficiency on the Activities of Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle Enzymes and the Cytochrome Oxidase, and the Iron, Copper, and Zinc Concentrations in Rat Tissues, Z. Ernährungswiss., in press.
Bartholmey, S.J., and Sherman, A.R. (1985) Carnitine Levels in Iron-Deficient Rat Pups, J. Nutr. 115, 138–145.
Dallman, P.R., and Goodman, J.R. (1971) The Effects of Iron-Deficiency on the Hepatoycte: A Biochemical and Ultrastructural Study, J. Cell Biol. 48, 79–90.
Okayasu, T., Nagao, M., Ishibashi, T., and Imai, Y. (1981) Purification and Partial Characterization of Linoleoyl CoA Desaturase from Rat Liver Microsomes, Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 206, 21–42.
Strittmatter, R., Spatz, L., Corcoran, D., Rogers, M.J., Setlow, B., and Redline, R. (1974) Purification and Properties of Rat Liver Microsomal Stearyl Coenzyme Desaturase, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 71, 4565–4569.
Hirosue, T., and Hosogai, Y. (1993) Changes of Hepatic Lipid and Fatty Acid Profiles in Rats Administered Iron-Deficient Diet and Ethanol, Food Chem. Toxicol. 31, 651–654.
Larkin, E.C., Jarratt, B.A., and Rao, G.A. (1986) Reduction of Relative Levels of Nervonic to Lignoceric Acid in the Brain of Rat Pups Due to Iron Deficiency, Nutr. Res. 6, 309–317.
Rao, G.A., Crane, R.T., and Larkin, E.C. (1983) Reduction of Hepatic Stearoyl-CoA Desaturase Activity in Rats Fed Iron-Deficient Diets, Lipids 18, 573–575.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
About this article
Cite this article
Stangl, G.I., Kirchgessner, M. Different degrees of moderate iron deficiency modulate lipid metabolism of rats. Lipids 33, 889–895 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11745-998-0285-8
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11745-998-0285-8