Investigation on the dosage/efficacy relationship of iron dextran in veal calves

The efficacy of a single dose of 800 mg resp. 1600 mg iron in the form of an intramuscularly administrable iron (III)-dextran complex (Anaemex, CAS 9004-66-4) has been tested. On 3 groups of 13 calves each, 0 ml (comparing group), 4 ml resp. 8 ml iron dextran 20% have been applied. All calves received iron-containing food during the test period of 10 weeks. At the beginning of the therapy, 5 weeks and 8 weeks after application, the parameters: weight, hemoglobin, erythrocytes, hematocrit, mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), MCH concentration, mean corpuscular volume, plasma protein, fibrinogen, leukocytes and serum iron were measured. After 10 weeks the dead weight has been determined and the spleen of some calves tested histologically. The study shows that, by the administration of 1600 mg iron as a depot injection, a better growth results with the same quality of veal. The red-coloring of the veal was not significantly different from that of the comparing group. The histological findings show especially that the iron depots of the spleen were empty in all three groups and thereby in this collective no connection exists between the color of the veal and the tested dosage of iron dextran 20%. It is considered meaningful and economic to renounce in future the iron-containing food and in its place to apply intramuscular a single dose of 1600-2400 mg iron per calf. The results are compared with a study on full term infants, which has shown that a intramuscular single dose of 150 mg of iron as iron dextran at birth affords a nutritional advantage in iron status for up to 15 months.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)