Interrelationships between circulating gastrin and iron status in mice and humans

Abstract

The observations that the peptide hormone gastrin interacts with transferrin in vitro and that circulating gastrin concentrations are increased in the iron-loading disorder hemochromatosis suggest a possible link between gastrin and iron homeostasis. This study tested the hypothesis that gastrin and iron status are interrelated by measurement of iron homeostasis in mice and humans with abnormal circulating gastrin concentrations. Intestinal iron absorption was determined by 59Fe uptake following oral gavage, and concentrations of duodenal divalent metal transporter-1 (DMT-1) and hepatic hepcidin mRNAs were determined by quantitative real-time PCR in agastrinemic (GasKO), hypergastrinemic cho..