Journal of Zhejiang University SCIENCE B
ISSN 1673-1581(Print), 1862-1783(Online), Monthly

2008   Vol. 9   No. 9   p. 707~712

Availability and toxicity of Fe(II) and Fe(III) in Caco-2 cells

Wan-ling HE^1,2, Ying FENG^1,3, Xiao-li LI², Yan-yan WEI¹, Xiao-e YANG^†‡1

(¹Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Polluted Environmental Remediation and Ecological Health, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310029, China)
(²College of Animal Science and Technology, Henan Science and Technology University, Luoyang 471003, China)
(³Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Subtropic Soil and Plant Nutrition, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310029, China)
^‡ Corresponding Author
^†E-mail: xyang@zju.edu.cn
Received Jan. 19, 2008; revision accepted Apr. 26, 2008

Abstract: The objective of the present study was to compare the toxicity and availability of Fe(II) and Fe(III) to Caco-2 cells. Cellular damage was studied by measuring cell proliferation and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release. The activities of two major antioxidative enzymes [superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx)] and differentiation marker (alkaline phosphatase) were determined after the cells were exposed to different levels of iron salts. The cellular iron concentration was investigated to evaluate iron bioavailability. The results show that iron uptake of the cells treated with Fe(II) is significantly higher than that of the cells treated with Fe(III) (P<0.05). Fe(II) at a concentration >1.5 mmol/L was found to be more effective in reducing cellular viability than Fe(III). LDH release investigation suggests that Fe(II) can reduce stability of the cell membrane. The activities of SOD and GPx of the cells treated with Fe(II) were higher than those of the cells treated with Fe(III), although both of them increased with raising iron supply levels. The results indicate that both Fe(II) and Fe(III) could reduce the cellular antioxidase gene expression at high levels.

Key words: Iron availability, Caco-2 cells, Fe(II), Fe(III), Toxicity
doi:10.1631/jzus.B0820023             CLC number: X17

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