Changes in Copper and Iron Retention in Chronic Diseases Accompanied by Secondary Anemia. Ii. Changes in Liver, Spleen and Stomach

Metabolism of the stimulated rat spleen

“…The spleens of these animals synthesize both hemoglobin and ferritin at an increased rate. These results could explain the increased uptake of 59Fe by the spleen of tumorbearing mice, reported by Hevesy and Lockner (21), and may be applicable to the observations made in human malignancies of an anemia not associated with blood loss (22) and to the reports of an increased quantity of total iron in their spleens (23). The origin of spleen erythropoietic stimulation in animals bearing the tumor may be ascribed to hypoxia resulting from loss of bone marrow erythropoietic activity, or to a shortened life span of the circulating erythrocytes (21).…”

Studies of the Anemia and Iron Metabolism in Cancer 1

“…(6). Weil (25) and Gross (26,27) (29,30) reported normal to increased amounts of iron in the liver and spleen of patients dying with disseminated carcinoma and anemia, the amount often appearing to be excessive in proportion to the degree of anemia. Our findings partially confirm these observations, although the quantity of iron found in our cases was less.…”

“…10, 11, 15 and 20). Moreover, chemical analyses of various malignant tumors described in the literature (30,33,34) have demonstrated that the concentration of iron in such tissues is low. There is evidence to incriminate the reticulo-endothelial system in the genesis of the hypoferremia found in experimentally produced acute inflammation in the dog (35,36).…”

The Quantitative Estimation of Total Iron Stores in Human Bone Marrow

“…This iron exists in two forms: as a diffuse soluble fraction called ferritin, in which the molecules are dispersed, and as insoluble aggregates of hemosiderin, which can be visualized by conventional microscopy (2). Although the liver is regarded as the chief storage organ, chemical analyses suggest that it normally contains up to 300 mg (3)(4)(5), which is only between one-quarter and one-third of what can be mobilized from total stores when healthy young males are repeatedly phlebotomized (6). Although little is known of the quantities present in other organs, hemosiderin can be seen in the reticuloendothelial cells of the bone marrow (7) and spleen (8), and there is some chemical evidence to indicate that significant amounts of storage iron may be present in skeletal muscles (9, 10).…”