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. 1998 Mar 3;95(5):2492–2497. doi: 10.1073/pnas.95.5.2492

Figure 2.

Figure 2

Increased transferrin saturation and hepatic iron content in HFE−/− mice. Values represent means ± SE. (Left) The transferrin saturation (A), hepatic iron content (B), and splenic iron content (C) in HFE+/+ and HFE−/− mice fed 0.02% iron diets from weaning until sacrifice at 10 weeks of age. Both the transferrin saturation and hepatic iron content were increased in the HFE−/− mice (P < 0.001 and P < 0.01, respectively). (Right) The transferrin saturation (A), hepatic iron content (B), and splenic iron content (C) in HFE+/+ and HFE−/− mice fed control diets supplemented with 2% wt/wt carbonyl iron for the 14 days before sacrifice at age 10 weeks. HFE+/+ mice showed an increase in transferrin saturation from 68 ± 3 to 94 ± 0.2%, a 6-fold increase in hepatic iron (370 ± 87 to 2,124 ± 149 μg/g dry wt, P < 0.001), and a 3.5-fold increase in splenic iron (1,244 ± 191 to 4,361 ± 905 μg/g dry wt, P < 0.004) in response to dietary iron loading. The HFE−/− mice had no increase in the already high transferrin saturation with dietary iron loading. However, their 1.5-fold increase in hepatic iron (from 1,660 ± 286 to 2,523 ± 262 μg/g dry wt) was significant (P < 0.03). Splenic iron was not significantly increased in response to iron loading in −/− mice (P = 0.15).