[Changed intraluminal conditions in hemochromatosis]

The influence of the pancreatic secretion on the absorption of iron supposed by several authors could be ascertained by the investigation of pancreatic juice which was obtained by means of cannulation of the pancreatic duct and subsequent stimulation of the organ with secretin pancreozymin in patients with haemochromatosis. The absorption of iron increased in this disease can on the one hand be caused by a protracted secretion of hydrogen carbonate and the slower decrease of the pH-value in the upper duodenum, on the other hand by an increased secretion of pancreatic protein. The quantity of hydrogen carbonate decides on the speed of neutralisation of the formerly acid chyme, however, together with the proteins being at the disposal on the formation of absorption-promoting iron-chelates or of not bioavailable, partly polymeric iron hydroxides.