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Tissue and Gender‐Specific Differences in the Iron Contents of Diabetic Mice
Author(s) -
Harrison Krystal,
Bost Darrian,
Ongeri Elimelda,
Fordahl Steven,
Erikson Keith M,
Han Jian
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.634.14
Subject(s) - streptozotocin , medicine , endocrinology , diabetes mellitus , diabetic nephropathy , kidney , spleen , type 2 diabetes , chemistry , biology
Iron is essential for life. The increase of total body iron stores has been associated with an increased risk for development of type 2 diabetes. Meprins are metalloproteases that are abundantly expressed in the brush border membranes of proximal kidney tubules and have been implicated in diabetic nephropathy. The objective of this study was to investigate the iron status in type I diabetic mice, and determine if meprin α deficiency impacts iron distribution. Two strains of mice, C57BL/6, which express normal levels of meprin α and meprin β (n=10 female, n=9 male), and C3H/He, which are deficient in meprin α (n=3 male, n=3 female) were studied. Low dose streptozotocin (STZ) was used to induce type 1 diabetes in 8 week old mice. Mice were sacrificed at week 11 post‐STZ injection and tissues (liver, spleen, brain, heart, and kidney) were harvested for iron analysis by Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy. Results showed tissue‐ and gender‐specific differences in iron levels in diabetic and non‐diabetic control mice. In both C57BL/6 and C3H/HE mice, male mice had over 10 times more iron compared to female mice in all tissues examined. Compared to non‐diabetic control mice, diabetic mice showed higher iron content in the heart, but lower in the liver. There was no difference in iron content between C57BL/6 and C3H/HE mice, which indicated that the level of meprin α did not affect iron status. Grant Funding Source : none