Background: Intravenous iron supplementation is used widely in haemodialysis patients. However, nontransferrin-bound iron (NTBI), which increases after intravenous supplementation of ferric saccharate, has been suggested to act as a catalytic agent in oxygen radical formation in vitro and may thus contribute to endothelial impairment in vivo.
Materials and methods: In 20 healthy volunteers the effect of 100 mg ferric saccharate infusion was investigated. Vascular ultrasound was used to assess endothelium-dependent vasodilatation at baseline, and 10 and 240 min after ferric saccharate infusion. Whole blood was collected to measure NTBI and in vivo radical formation was assessed by electron spin resonance. A time-control study was performed using saline infusion.
Results: Infusion of ferric saccharate induces a greater than fourfold increase in NTBI, as well as a transient, significant (P < 0.01) reduction of flow-mediated dilatation 10 min after infusion of ferric saccharate, when compared with saline. The generation of superoxide in whole blood increased significantly 10 and 240 min after infusion of ferric saccharate by, respectively, 70 and 53%.
Conclusions: Iron infusion at a currently used therapeutic dose for intravenous iron supplementation leads to increased oxygen radical stress and acute endothelial dysfunction.