The Effect of Ascorbic Acid Deficiency on Desferrioxamine-Induced Urinary Iron Excretion

S ummary . The levels of tissue ascorbic acid tend to be low in subjects with iron overload. The present study was undertaken to find out whether this ascorbic acid deficiency affected the quantities of iron excreted in the urine after the administration of the iron chelate, desferrioxamine. Basal tests were done and were then repeated after 7 days of ascorbic acid therapy. Desferrioxamine-induced urinary iron excretion increased by 88 per cent in 13 individuals with transfusional siderosis, 60 per cent in five with idiopathic haemochromatosis and 350 per cent in 12 Bantu subjects with dietary siderosis. Over the same period the mean leucocyte ascorbic acid concentrations rose by 164 per cent, 157 per cent and 551 per cent respectively. In contrast, no change was noted in either urinary iron excretion or in ascorbic acid concentrations in six normal white and six normal Bantu control subjects. These results suggest that tissue ascorbic acid concentrations should be restored to normal before desferrioxamine is used for either the diagnosis or the treatment of iron overload.