Resumo

Iron deficiency (ID) anaemia is a worldwide public issue mainly affecting children and adolescents at their stage of fast growth, and women in their reproductive phase (WHO, 2001). It has been observed that the deficiency of one micronutrient alters the absorption of others either by enhancing or inhibiting their transport, as would be the case with DMT1 (divalent metals transporter 1). Objective. To determine the concentration of micronutrients in liver and brain of postweaned, ID Wistar rats. Methods. An experimental model of nutritional ID was created in postweaning (PD21) Wistar rats (14 males/13 females) supplemented either with complete (C, 150 ppm Fe) or ID (10 ppm Fe) diets. At PD63 Na+ pentobarbital was used as deep anesthetic, and a blood sample taken to determine haemoglobin, erithrocytes concentration, mean corpuscular volume and hematocrite. Afterwards, 500 ml saline solution (150 mM ultrapure NaCl) were used for perfusion and liver and brain samples taken to determine by flame atomic absorption espectroscopy the concentration of Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn y Cr. All data obtained were then processed using the U Mann Whitney test, p<0.05. Results. The haematological parameters determined in ID group showed an approximate general reduction of 45% compared to C. The liver of ID males at PD63 showed reduced levels of Fe and Cu (p<0.5), while in females Fe was reduced and Zn increased (p<0.5). The analysis of brain micronutrients showed only a significant increase of Cu in ID females. Conclusions. Although the rate of micronutrient absorption by the different tissues depends on biochemical and metabolic demands of the organism, under ID we observed this is strongly related to sex. Another important observation is that brain tissue presents protection mechanisms not yet explained.