Pathogenesis of cardiac hypertrophy in iron deficiency anaemia: the role of noradrenaline.

This study examined the effect of long-term administration of reserpine, an adrenergic blocking agent, on cardiac hypertrophy in animals with severe iron deficiency anaemia. This condition was induced by feeding rats on an iron-deficient diet for 30 days from the time of weaning. Anaemia was indicated by lowering of blood haemoglobin levels. Reserpine was administered i.p. (0.15 mg/kg body wt) every day during the experiment. Marked cardiac hypertrophy, as indicated by increase heart weight and increased size of cardiac muscle cells, was evidenced in iron-deficient rats, while the heart weights and myocardial cell size of drug-treated anaemic rats were in the normal range. The successful prevention of cardiac hypertrophy in anaemic iron-deficient rats by reserpine administration supports the hypothesis that noradrenaline plays a key role in the cardiac-hypertrophy process in iron deficiency anaemia.