1: Infect Immun. 2006 Jan;74(1):289-95. Related Articles, Links

Dietary iron content mediates hookworm pathogenesis in vivo.

Held MR, Bungiro RD, Harrison LM, Hamza I, Cappello M.

Program in International Child Health, Department of Pediatrics, Yale
University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520.
michael.cappe...@yale.edu.

Hookworm infection is associated with growth delay and iron deficiency
anemia in developing countries. A series of experiments were designed
in order to test the hypothesis that host dietary iron restriction
mediates susceptibility to hookworm infection using the hamster model
of Ancylostoma ceylanicum. Animals were maintained on diets containing
either 10 ppm iron (iron restricted) or 200 ppm iron (standard/high
iron), followed by infection with A. ceylanicum third-stage larvae.
Infected animals fed the standard diet exhibited statistically
significant growth delay and reduced blood hemoglobin levels compared
to uninfected controls on day 20 postinfection. In contrast, no
statistically significant differences in weight or hemoglobin
concentration were observed between infected and uninfected animals fed
the iron-restricted diet. Moreover, iron-restricted animals were
observed to have reduced intestinal worm burdens on day 10 and day 20
postinfection compared to those of animals maintained on the
standard/high-iron diet. In a subsequent study, animals equilibrated on
diets containing a range of iron levels (10 ppm, 40 ppm, 100 ppm, or
200 ppm) were infected with A. ceylanicum and followed for evidence of
hookworm disease. Infected animals from the intermediate-dietary iron
(40- and 100-ppm) groups exhibited greater weight loss and anemia than
those in the low (10-ppm)- or high (200-ppm)-iron diet groups.
Mortality was also significantly higher in the
intermediate-dietary-iron groups. These data suggest that severe
dietary iron restriction impairs hookworm development in vivo but that
moderate iron restriction enhances host susceptibility to severe
disease.

PMID: 16368983 [PubMed - in process]

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