KIDNEY IRON STATUS IN PASSIVE HEYMANN NEPHRITIS AND THE EFFECT OF AN IRON-DEFICIENT DIET

In the study presented here, the iron status in the kidney in passive Heymann nephritis, a complement-dependent model of membranous nephropa thy, was examined. To examine whether the effect of immune injury on i ron status has a pathogenic role, the effect of an iron-deficient diet was also determined. Injection of the anti-Fx1A antibody (10 mg/100 g body wt) in Sprague-Dawley rats resulted in no change in the serum ir on level, a marked increase in the urinary excretion rate of iron, a m arked increase in non-heme iron content of kidney cortex, and a marked increase in the non-heme iron level in tubules. These increases in ir on were prevented by feeding the rats an iron-deficient diet. In the r ats fed a normal iron diet and injected with anti-Fx1A-IgG, there was no significant change in the non-heme iron level in glomeruli. However , an iron-deficient diet resulted in a significant decrease in the non -heme iron level in glomeruli, compared with its respective control. I n addition, an iron-deficient diet significantly reduced urinary prote in excretion rate (Day 5: iron-replete, 68 +/- 12 mg/24 h, N = 12; iro n-deficient, 36 +/- 11, N = 10, P < 0.05) in the complement-dependent immune phase of the glomerular injury. Taken together, these data indi cate a marked alteration in the iron status in the kidney and suggest an important role of iron in glomerular injury of passive Heymann neph ritis.