Studies on the Metabolism of Ferric Iron Instillated into Vein Part 1. The Maturation of Reticulocytes in vivo after Ferric Iron Instillation into vein, especially the Action of Serun Iron Colloid (S. I. C.) in Blood-depleting Anemia

According to Seno et al. it is said that when a small of the so-called "asparagine iron" preparated by mixing asparagine and Fecl3 in a proper proportion, is instillated into vein, reticulocytes (RC) decrease markedly in number within a few hours. Such a change in the number of RC without any cocurrent change in the amount of Hb is understood to be due to the maturation of young RC, but its mechanism has remained still unclarified. However, it is easy to understand that this phenomenon will be dependent upon the accelerative action of iron on the hemoglobin synthesis, with the purpose to elucidate such a mechanism the author carried out experiments to find out whether or not there are some other substances possessing the action identical with "Asparagine iron", and obtained the following results: It has been found that serum iron colleid prepared by mixing FeCl(3) with serum and also the "ferritrat" from Nordmark in Germany both possess the action similar to that of asparagine iron. Namely, when 0.25 mg/kg. of either one of these substances is instillated into vein as ferric iron, within 2 to 3 hours reticulocytes decrease one half to one tenth of the original number. However, no such action can be recognized in gluconic iron or dextran iron available.