Iron absorption measured by whole body counting and the relation to marrow iron stores in chronic uremia

Iron absorption was measured by whole body counting, using 10 microCI 59Fe3+ and 10 mg Fe2+ as carrier, in 53 patients with chronic uremia (16 non-dialyzed, 18 peritoneal dialyzed, 19 hemodialyzed) and in 14 renal transplanted patients having normal kidney function. Bone marrow hemosiderin iron was assessed semiquantitatively after staining with Prussian blue, Iron absorption was clearly dependent on iron stores, being higher in patients with reduced marrow iron than in patients with adequate marrow iron stores (P less than 0.01) Hemodialysis patients had greater blood losses and significantly higher absorption than both non-dialysis and peritoneal dialysis patients. There were significant correlation between iron absorption and plasma transferrin (r = 0.56, P less then 0.001); and between log iron absorption and log serum ferritin (r = 0.80, P less than 0.01) in peritoneal dialysis patients. The results indicate that the regulatory mechanism which relates iron absorption to body iron stores is intact in patients with chronic uremia.