Effect of desferrioxamine infusion on red blood cell aluminum

The authors investigated the effect of desferrioxamine (DFO) on red blood cell aluminum (RBC-AI) and the effect of DFO on anemia. To do this, serum AI (s-AI), RBC-AI, and blood hemoglobin (Hb) levels were measured periodically for 4 months after the administration of 1,000 mg of DFO (DFO infusion test) in 10 patients treated by hemodialysis (HD). The s-AI levels increased by 2 days after the administration of DFO and then decreased by day 7 to almost baseline levels. No significant changes occurred in the RBC-AI levels until 1 month postinfusion, at which time the levels decreased slowly for the following month. Hb levels increased at 1 month postinfusion, suggesting that the changes in RBC-AI were independent of the changes in s-AI. Removal of AI by DFO may improve the anemia that accompanies diseases in which AI accumulates. DFO did not seem to transfer AI into the RBC or to remove the AI that had accumulated in these cells.