TABLE 1.

Iron status and tissue iron isotope enrichment in control and iron-loaded rats¹

	Group
	Control	M-Fe	H-Fe	P (ANOVA)
Body weight, g	480 ± 7	466 ± 15	481 ± 18	0.7
Hemoglobin, g/L	171 ± 7	152 ± 15	172 ± 8	0.4
Serum iron, mg/L	1.6 ± 0.2	2.0 ± 0.1	1.9 ± 0.2	0.9
Tissue iron, mg/g dry weight
Liver	0.22 ± 0.02b	0.55 ± 0.07b	2.21 ± 0.46a	0.001
Spleen	1.60 ± 0.27c	10.2 ± 0.95b	17.3 ± 2.67a	0.003
Kidney	0.30 ± 0.03	0.26 ± 0.03	0.26 ± 0.03	0.6
Heart	0.24 ± 0.02b	0.27 ± 0.01b	0.39 ± 0.04a	0.009
57Fe excess, %
Blood	14.1 ± 2.6a	7.6 ± 1.7a,b	4.1 ± 0.5b	0.01
Liver	21.2 ± 4.8a	5.2 ± 2.22,b	0.9 ± 0.1b	0.001
Spleen	3.7 ± 0.9a	0.8 ± 0.4b	0.3 ± 0.1b	0.003
58Fe excess, %
Blood	5.7 ± 0.7a	3.1 ± 0.5b	2.0 ± 0.3b	0.002
Liver	8.9 ± 1.62,a	1.8 ± 0.52,b	0.6 ± 0.1b	0.004
Spleen	4.0 ± 1.63,a	0.5 ± 0.1b	0.5 ± 0.2b	0.01

¹Values are means ± SEMs; n = 4 unless otherwise noted due to lack of tissue sample or presence of nickel contamination. Labeled means in a row without a common letter differ, P < 0.05. H-Fe, high iron loading; M-Fe, moderate iron loading.

²n = 3.

³n = 2.