Nitrite-induced iron deficiency in the neonatal rat

Abstract Neonatal rats from dams receiving 2 or 3 g NaNO 2 /liter in the drinking water through-gestation and lactation suffered severe microcytic anemia as well as growth retardation and high mortality. Lipemia, fatty liver damage, decreased erythropoiesis of spleen and bone marrow, and reduced plasma and tissue iron levels were noted in affected pups. These effects were all consistent with and characteristic of iron deficiency. Experiments presented here were designed to show that the maternally mediated toxicity of nitrite is actually an iron deficiency syndrome in the pups caused by inadequate iron transfer from dam to pup. It was found that administration of exogenous iron supplement to pups of treated mothers reversed the anemia and other effects of nitrite toxicity noted both in previous studies and in unsupplemented littermates. Mothers of affected pups were themselves anemic. Finally, we fully documented severe iron deficiency in pups of nitrite-treated mothers and showed that these mothers produced milk of reduced iron content. It appears then that nitrite-consuming dams have a reduced capacity to transfer iron to their pups. The nitrite-associated toxicities in the pups are actually a result of an iron deficiency.