الفهرس 
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Abstract
The present study was planned to investigate the effect
of iron deficiency and iron-load on brain function. Our study
included animal and human studies.
(I) The animal study:
Sixty three male weanling albino rats Sprague-Dawely
strain of mean body weights 70 ± 10 g were used. The rats
were randomly assigned to seven experimental groups. Groups
(1 and 2): normal rats which were fed on a control (CN) diet
(35mg Fe/Kg diet) for 21 and 28 days, respectively; groups (3
and 4): iron-deficient rats which were fed on an iron-deficient
(ID) diet (3mg Fe/ Kg diet) for 21 and 28 days, respectively;
group (5): iron-repletion rats which were fed on an irondeficient
diet for three weeks followed by an iron-adequate
diet for one week; groups (6 and 7): iron load rats which were
fed on an iron-load (IL) diet (250 mg Fe/ Kg diet) for 21 and
28 days, respectively. Hematological variables (hemoglobin,
hematocrit and red blood cells count) were estimated in whole
blood, as well as blood indices: mean corpuscular hemoglobin
(MCH), mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and mean
corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) were
calculated. Serum and brain iron, TIBC, ferritin, transferrin
and transferrin saturation were estimated as well as dopamine
and serotonin concentration in the brains of different groups.
1- Iron deficient diets for 21 days caused significant
decrease in hemoglobin concentration and hematocrit by
-12.69% and -13.30%, respectively and non-significant
decrease in red blood cells count, as compared to
control normal rats for 21 days. The hemoglobin
concentration, hematocrit and red blood cells count
increased significantly in the iron-repleted group
(Repl.) as compared to the normal animals (CN, 28
days) or that stayed on iron deficient diets for 28 days
(ID, 28 days).
2- Iron-load rats (28 days) showed non-significant change
in hemoglobin, hematocrit and red blood cells count as
compared to control normal group (28 days).
3- The values of MCH and MCV of rats fed on iron
deficient diets for 28 days were significantly lower by
-13.95% and -14.03%, respectively than control normal
values recorded at 28 days. Whereas, the MCHC level
was not significantly affected following iron deficiency
for 28 days from the control groups (CN, 21 and 28
days) and iron-deficient group for 21 days.
4- The present results demonstrate that, iron repletion for
one week (Repl.) non-significantly elevated MCH and
MCV and non-significantly reduced MCHC as
compared with iron-deficient group (ID, 28 days).
5- MCV was markedly elevated in iron-load fed rats (for
21 and 28 days) as compared to control normal groups
(for 21 and 28 days).
6- Iron deficiency for both 21 and 28 days showed
significant decrease in serum iron and ferritin and
increase in TIBC as compared with control groups
(CN, 21and 28 days). Whereas, iron-load group showed
opposite results.
7- Consuming iron adequate diets for one week after three
weeks of iron deficiency, induced significant elevation
in the level of serum iron and ferritin and decrease in
TIBC as compared with their base line levels in irondeficient
rats for 28 days (ID, 28 days).
8- When diets contain low iron (3 mg Fe/ Kg diet) were
ingested either for 21 or 28 days, the serum transferrin,
and the % of transferrin saturation were significantly
increased and decreased, respectively than did the
corresponding diets adequate in iron for 21 and 28 days.
Diets contain high iron (250 mg Fe/ Kg diet) showed
opposite results. For the iron-repleted rats for one week,
the serum transferrin and the % of transferrin saturation
were significantly decreased and increased, respectively
as compared to iron-deficient animals (21 and 28 days).
9- Iron-deficient diet-fed rats for 28 days showed
significant decrease in the brain iron and ferritin
concentration by -71.80% and -12.33%, respectively as
compared with control normal rats (CN, 28 days). Brain
iron and ferritin levels were markedly elevated in ironload
rats (28 days) by 73.37% and 34.77%, respectively
as compared to control normal rats (28 days).
10- TIBC significantly increased in iron-deficient groups
(ID, 21 and 28 days) and significantly decreased in ironload
groups (IL, 21 and 28 days) as compared with the
control groups (CN, 21 and 28 days).
11- The brain iron, and ferritin in repleted rats (G5) were
greater than in iron-deficient rats (ID, 28 days), but were
still lower than control normal (CN, 28 days) by
-48.44% and -6.23 %, respectively.
12- All rats fed with iron-deficient diets for 21 and 28 days
showed significant increase in the level of brain
transferrin, while rats fed with iron-load diets for 21 and
28 days showed significant decrease as compared with
control groups (21 and 28 days).
13- Consuming iron-deficient diets and iron-load diets
(either for 21 and 28 days) induced significant decrease
and increase on the % of transferrin saturation,
respectively as compared to control normal diets (either
for 21 and 28 days).
14- Repletion for one week in iron-deficient rats resulted in
significant decrease in brain transferrin and significant
increase in % of transferrin saturation as compared to
those maintained on the iron-deficient diets (ID, 28
days).
15- All rats which were fed iron-deficient diets for 21 and
28 days exhibited a decrease in the level of brain
serotonin as compared with those of control groups (CN,
21 and 28 days), while the brain dopamine significantly
decreased in iron-deficient group (ID, 28 days) as
compared with the control normal group (CN, 28 days).
16- The levels of brain serotonin showed significant
increase for iron-load group (IL, 28 days) by 7.70% but
non-significant increase for iron-load group (IL, 21
days) as compared with their control groups (CN, 28
and 21 days), respectively. The levels of dopamine in
the brain of rats which were fed on iron-load diets either
for 21 and 28 days had almost the same results as that in
control normal rats (CN, 21 and 28 days).
17- Significant elevations in the values of brain serotonin
and dopamine were noticed in the iron-repleted rats as
compared with iron-deficient rats (ID, 28 days).
18- The current study revealed that, the levels of serum iron
showed significant positive correlation with serum
ferritin, brain iron and brain serotonin. However, it
showed significant negative correlation with serum
transferrin in different groups studied. Investigations
have also shown that, brain iron recorded positive
correlation with brain ferritin and with brain serotonin
and negative correlation with brain transferrin among
different experimental groups. The current study also
presented that, there is no positive or negative
correlation between brain dopamine and both serum iron
and brain iron among different experimental groups.
(II) Human study:
The present study was performed on a total number of
twenty seven Egyptian male children with an age range of 7-15
years, the chosen cases included three groups. Group 1,
Control (Hb ranged from 11 to 12.8 g/dl); group 2, irondeficient
(Hb ranged from 8 to 9.5 g/dl) and group 3, ironoverload
(Hb ranged from 6 to 8 g/dl).
1- The results showed that there is significant decrease in
hemoglobin concentration in iron-deficient group and
iron-overload group by -25.38% and -40.45%,
respectively as compared to the control normal group.
The levels of hematocrit were decreased significantly by
-31.23% and -41.22% in iron-deficient and ironoverload
groups, respectively as compared to the control
group.
2- A significant decrease in red blood cells count was
observed in iron-deficient group and iron-overload
group by -36.98% and -40.48% as compared to the
control group.
3- The results showed that the values of MCH, MCV and
MCHC were increased in iron-deficient group by
18.16%, 9.25% and 7.81%, respectively as compared to
the control group. However, it was found that ironoverload
group did not exhibit the same trend.
4- Results illustrated that the serum iron and ferritin
concentrations decreased by -43.43% and -3.29%
respectively in iron-deficient group and increased by
90.56% and 2556.63%, respectively in iron-overload
group as compared to the control group. On the other
hand, the values of total iron binding capacity showed
significant increase in iron-deficient group by 40.57%
and significant decrease in iron-overload group by
-15.25% as compared to the control group.
5- Serum transferrin values increased in iron-deficient
group by 40.58% but decreased in iron-overload group
by -15.25% as compared to the control group. On the
other hand, the values of the percentage of transferrin
saturation decreased in iron-deficient group by -59.64%
and increased in iron-overload group by 125.01% as
compared to the control group.
6- The serum serotonin and dopamine concentration were
decreased by -37.84% and -38.20%, respectively in
iron-deficient group, while increased by 482.91% and
32.83%, respectively in iron-overload group as
compared to the control normal group.
7- There was significant positive correlation between
serum iron concentration and serum ferritin
concentration, serum serotonin concentration, serum
dopamine concentration, respectively among human
groups. On the other hand, serum iron concentration
showed significant negative correlation with serum
transferrin concentration, among different human
groups.