Phagocytosis and bactericidal capacity in rats fed deficient marginal, adequate and high level of iron

Phagocytosis and bactericidal function of peritoneal macrophages were studied in four groups of Charles River CD (Sprague Dawley) (10 males and 10 females per group) rats fed a low iron basal diet for five weeks supplemented with 0(2), 20(3), 35(4) and 140(5) μg Fe/g of diet. In addition, a similar group was fed a stock diet (1) for four weeks to compare the effects of the stock diet with those of the purified diets. At the end of the feeding period, phagocytosis and bactericidal activity against Staphylococcus aureus were investigated. In all the experiments performed there was no detectable difference between the functions of macrophages obtained from male or female rats. Macrophages from animals fed diets 1, 3 & 4 ingested about 75% of the microorganisms after 30 min and 80–90 of the ingested microorganisms were killed after 2 hrs. However bacterial ingestion increased to 90% and decreased to about 50% from rats on iron deficient and high iron diets respectively. Bactericidal function was also impaired in the two groups for the first 30 min and reached control levels after 60 min.