The influence of dietary carbohydrate and deferoxamine on developing copper deficiency of rats

The present investigation was conducted to follow the development of copper deficiency in male rats from weaning (day 0) to day 31 of dietary copper deprivation and to correlate changes in tissue sizes with copper and iron concentrations. Male rats were fed for 31 days from weaning copper-deficient or adequate diets containing fructose or starch. Another copper-deficient group of rats that was fed fructose was treated with deferoxamine. Rats were killed at day 0, 8, 16, 24, and 31 of the study. In general, no correlation could be found between the development of heart hypertrophy, pancreatic and thymic atrophy, and tissue copper concentrations in copper-deficient rats fed fructose. In contrast, in the heart and pancreas a negative correlation existed between tissue size and iron concentration. In addition, anemia preceded heart hypertrophy. Deferoxamine lowered hepatic iron concentrations, ameliorated the anemia, and decreased heart size compared with untreated rats. The data of the present study suggest that tissue atrophy and hypertrophy and the severity of copper deficiency are not solely due to tissue concentrations of iron and/or copper.