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Iron Supplementation Attenuates the Inflammatory Status of Anemic Piglets by Regulating Hepcidin

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Abstract

Iron deficiency is common throughout the world and has been linked to immunity impairments. Using piglets to model human infants, we assessed the impact of systemic iron homeostasis on proinflammatory status. Artificially reared piglets were parenterally supplied with iron dextran by intramuscular administration at the age of 3 days. Relative to no iron supplementation (control), iron dextran-treated (FeDex) piglets increased hematological parameters as well as iron levels in serum and tissues from days 21 to 49. High expression of hepcidin was observed in FeDex-treated piglets, which correlated with suppressed expression of ferroportin in duodenum. Lower levels of proinflammatory cytokine (IL-6, TNF-α, IFN-γ, and IL-1β) transcripts were detected in ileum of FeDex-treated piglets, which indicated that iron supplementation could attenuate the increase of inflammatory cytokines caused by iron deficiency. Histopathological analysis of liver and duodenum proved the less inflammatory responses after iron supplementation. Hepcidin was highly stimulated by FeDex supplementation and attenuated the inflammation of anemia, which implied that hepcidin might had antiinflammatory function and is a candidate regulator of the cross-talk between iron regulation and inflammation.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31272455) and Zhejiang Provincial Key Science and Technology Innovation Team (No. 2011R50025).

Conflict of Interest

No conflict of interest exists in the submission of this manuscript, and manuscript is approved by all authors for publication. The work described was original research that has not been published previously and not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Feed Science Institute, College of Animal Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, People’s Republic of China

    Yutian Pu, Bingxiu Guo, Dan Liu, Haitao Xiong, Yizhen Wang & Huahua Du

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  1. Yutian Pu
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  2. Bingxiu Guo
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  3. Dan Liu
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  4. Haitao Xiong
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  5. Yizhen Wang
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  6. Huahua Du
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Correspondence to Huahua Du.

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Pu, Y., Guo, B., Liu, D. et al. Iron Supplementation Attenuates the Inflammatory Status of Anemic Piglets by Regulating Hepcidin. Biol Trace Elem Res 167, 28–35 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-015-0295-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-015-0295-6

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