Table 1. Physiological and hematological parameters in Belgrade rats.

Homozygous Belgrade (b/b) rats and control heterozygous (+/b) rats (6–7 weeks old) were fed an iron-supplemented diet (500 mg iron/kg diet) for 5 weeks and euthanized to collect tissues. Data were presented as means ± SEM and analyzed using the two-sample t-test.

Parameter (unit)	+/b	b/b	n	p value
Body weight (g)	256 ± 1	220 ± 4	10–12	< 0.001
Hematocrit (%)	48.7 ± 0.5	40.9 ± 0.7	10–12	< 0.001
Liver non-heme iron level (μg/g)	103 ± 11	434 ± 107	4	0.015
Brain non-heme iron level (μg/g)	5.6 ± 0.1	5.0 ± 0.6	4	0.428