1 Weanling male CD-1 mice were fed 120 (control), 5000 and 8000 mg of iron kg-1 for seven weeks. The haematocrit (P=0.265), water consumption ( P=0.170) and percentage body weight ratios of kidney, spleen and heart were not affected by iron supplementation.
2 Iron supplementation reduced weight gain (P=0.023), increased weight of liver (P=0.0001), the iron deposition index and concentration of iron in the liver (P<0.01). A strong correlation between liver iron concentration and level of iron in the diet (r=0.989) was observed. Histologically, the deposition of iron was restricted to the hepatocytes, Kupffer cells and splenic macrophages.
3 Consumption of 5000 and 8000 mg of iron kg-1 resulted in hepatic damage, as judged by elevated serum alkaline phosphatase and alanine aminotransferase activities (P<0.05).
4 This study indicates that prolonged feeding of excess dietary iron has the potential to cause hepatic accumulation of iron with resultant liver toxicity, and that mice may be a suitable model to study the mechanisms of dietary iron overload.
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