Biliary Excretion of Chelated Iron.

Summary The iron chelates of Cl-EDDHA, CH3-EDDHA and EDDHA are excreted in the bile unchanged following intravenous and oral administration to rabbits and following intraperitoneal administration to rats. Bile duct ligation results in shunting the excretion into the urine. The metabolic path for these compounds is attributed to their relatively non-polar structure. The absorption of these compounds and Fe CDTA from the intestinal tract without molecular alteration establishes that suitably constructed small molecular weight iron chelates may bypass physiologic mechanisms of oral iron absorption.