Determinants of fecal and urinary iron excretion in desferrioxamine-
treated rats
C Hershko
Radioiron excretion in the urine and feces after continuous subcutaneous
infusion of desferrioxamine (DF) was studied in normal and hypertransfused
rats in whom reticuloendothelial and parenchymal iron stores had been
labeled by selective 59Fe probes. The existence of two alternative pathways
for the chelation of iron in vivo by DF was indicated by the results. The
first pathway was intracellular chelation in hepatocytes with chelated iron
excreted through the bile only. The second pathway, which was
extracellular, could only be activated after saturation of the transferrin
iron binding capacity, with the chelated iron excreted by the kidneys. The
last mechanism was probably identical with the mode of action of
diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA). Further studies will be required
in order to establish whether the enhancement in iron chelation obtained by
the continuous infusion of DF in patients with complete saturation of
circulating transferrin may or may not be related to the extracellular
mechanism of iron chelation in hypertransfused rats.
Volume 51,
Issue 3,
pp. 415-423,
03/01/1978
Copyright © 1978 by The American Society of Hematology
