Table 3.

Effect of daily and every-three-day high-iron supplementation on mtDNA damage of iron-deficient rats

Treatment and timing of sampling	mtDNA damage*Fragmented DNA supercoiled DNA
Iron normal	0.17  ± 0.01 (n = 6) (a)
Iron deficient + daily high iron	0.36  ± 0.03 (n = 12) (b)
Iron deficient + iron every 3 days (1 day post)	0.31  ± 0.02 (n = 6) (b, c)
Iron deficient + iron every 3 days (2 days post)	0.26  ± 0.06 (n = 6) (a, b, c)
Iron deficient + iron every 3 days (3 days post)	0.22  ± 0.03 (n = 6) (a, b)

Mitochondrial DNA damage was measured as in Materials and Methods. Values are means ± SEM. Within a column, mean values not sharing the same letter (a, b, or c) are significantly different (P < 0.05). 

^*Data were ln-transformed prior to statistical analysis.