CHANGES IN IRON METABOLISM IN IRON-DEFICIENT/REPLETE PIGLETS AFTER SUCROSOMIAL® IRON SUPPLEMENTATION

Iron deficiency (ID) is a well-known nutritional disorder, which is widespread in the human population. Oral iron supplementation is a primary approach for the treatment of ID. Sucrosomial® Iron (SI), a highly bioavailable dietary iron suplement is considered a valid option for this therapy. Our aim was to investigate in a time-course study, iron fluctuations in the blood plasma, its tissue content/distribution and iron metabolism genes expression after administration of a single portion of SI to 14-day-old iron-deficient and iron-replete piglets. Our results revealed essential differences in SI-derived iron pharmacokinetics between iron-deficient and iron-replete animals such as faster increase in plasma iron level and its accelerated clearence from the plasma under shortfall compared to iron abundant conditions. Hepcidin plasma level, which predicts iron bioavailability reached a maximum at 6 hours post-administration of SI only in iron-replete piglets. Accordingly, 24 hours after SI administration duodenal ferroportin, the only known iron exporter, remained consistantly at low protein level in this animals whereas in iron-deficient piglets, showed a significant increase. Consequently, at the same time-point, staining for non-heme iron in duodenum showed its massive accumulation in enterocytes of iron-replete piglets suggesting decreased iron absorption in these animals. Our results emphasize the need to closely link the use of SI with iron status of supplemented individuals and predict the involvement of hepcidin in the regulation of SI absorption. Supported by NCN/2020/39/B/NZ5/02469.