Studies on Desferrioxamine in Relation to the Absorption of Iron

I n C onditions of iron overload, and particularly primary haemochromatosis, any agent which would prevent or diminish the absorption of iron in the diet might play a useful part in therapy. When desferrioxamine was first introduced it was suggested that this chelating agent, which has a very strong affinity for iron, might prevent the absorption of iron from the diet. The present studies were designed to investigate the effect of desferrioxamine on the absorption of inorganic iron and haemoglobin iron labelled with 59 Fe. In addition the fate of labelled ferrioxamine given by mouth was studied.