Effect of form of iron on nickel deprivation in the rat

In three fully crossed, factorially arranged, completely randomized experiments, female weanling rats were fed a basal diet (containing about 10 ng of nickel and 2.3 μg of iron/g) supplemented with graded levels of nickel and iron. Iron was supplemented to the diet in experiment 1 at levels of 0, 25, 50, and 100 μg/g as a mixture of 40% FeSO₄·nH₂O and 60% Fe₂(SO₄)₃·nH₂O; in experiment 2 at levels of 0, 12.5, 25, 50, and 100 μg/g as Fe₂(SO₄)₃·nH₂O; in experiment 3 at levels of 0, 25, and 50 μg/g as either the mixture of ferric-ferrous sulfates, or as ferric sulfate only. Nickel as NiCl₂·3H₂O was supplemented to the diet in experiment 1 at levels of 0, 5, and 50 μg/g; in experiment 2 at levels of 0 and 50 μg/g; and in experiment 3 at levels of 0 and 5 μg/g. Regardless of dietary nickel, rats fed no supplemental iron exhibited depressed iron content and elevated copper, manganese, and zinc contents in the liver. Nickel and iron did not interact to affect iron, manganese, and zinc in liver. Liver copper was inconsistently affected by an interaction between nickel and iron. Nickel deprivation apparently accentuated the elevation of the copper level in livers of severely iron-deficient rats. Experiment 3 showed that the form of dietary iron altered the effect of nickel deprivation on the iron content of the liver. When only ferric sulfate was supplemented to the diet, liver iron content was depressed in nickel-deprived rats. On the other hand, when the ferric-ferrous mixture was supplemented to the diet, nickel deprivation apparently elevated the iron content in the liver. The findings support the views that (1) parameters that are affected by an interaction between nickel and iron are limited in factorially arranged experiments, and (2) the form and level of dietary iron markedly influence the effect of nickel deprivation in the rat.