[Absorption and metabolic efficiency of iron in nickel deficiency].

Absorption and Metabolic Efficiency of Iron During Ni Deficiency. Ni deficiency leads to reduced iron contents in organs and to greatly reduced Hb levels and erythrocyte counts. Using models it was studied whether this Ni-dependent Fe anemia can be attributed to an impaired absorption of iron or to its metabolic efficiency. An experiment with seven 30-day-old rats from each of two generations were used for this. In Ni deficiency (0.015 ppm dietary nickel) iron absorption was clearly impaired at both 50 ppm and 100 ppm iron in the diet. Compared to the groups given 20 ppm nickel, the amount of iron absorbed fell two-thirds and one-third, respectively. By comparison, the influence on the metabolic efficiency of the iron was relatively small; at high iron supply, however, it was reduced by 8% in the Ni-deficient animals. Therefore, the reduced levels of hemoglobin, erythrocytes and hematocrit must essentially be caused by the impared absorption.