Volume 2025, Issue 1 9976840
Research Article
Open Access

Split Daily Oral Iron Dosing Enhances Correction of Iron-Deficiency Anemia in Rats

Mohamed M. El-Kady

Mohamed M. El-Kady

Department of Medical Pharmacology , Faculty of Medicine , Cairo University , Cairo , Egypt , cu.edu.eg

Search for more papers by this author
Nermeen Bastawy

Corresponding Author

Nermeen Bastawy

Department of Medical Physiology , Faculty of Medicine , Cairo University , Cairo , Egypt , cu.edu.eg

Search for more papers by this author
Mohamed Amin

Mohamed Amin

Department of Medical Physiology , Faculty of Medicine , Cairo University , Cairo , Egypt , cu.edu.eg

Search for more papers by this author
Soha Elmorsy

Soha Elmorsy

Department of Medical Pharmacology , Faculty of Medicine , Cairo University , Cairo , Egypt , cu.edu.eg

Search for more papers by this author
Olfat Shaker

Olfat Shaker

Department of Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology , Faculty of Medicine , Cairo University , Cairo , Egypt , cu.edu.eg

Search for more papers by this author
Abeer Mostafa

Abeer Mostafa

Department of Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology , Faculty of Medicine , Cairo University , Cairo , Egypt , cu.edu.eg

Search for more papers by this author
Eman Hassan Nadwa

Eman Hassan Nadwa

Department of Medical Pharmacology , Faculty of Medicine , Cairo University , Cairo , Egypt , cu.edu.eg

Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics , College of Medicine , Jouf University , Sakaka , Saudi Arabia , ju.edu.sa

Search for more papers by this author
Marwa Abdel-Rahman

Marwa Abdel-Rahman

Department of Medical Physiology , Faculty of Medicine , Cairo University , Cairo , Egypt , cu.edu.eg

Search for more papers by this author
First published: 28 June 2025
Academic Editor: Mihnea-Alexandru Găman

Abstract

Iron deficiency is the leading cause of anemia worldwide. Single oral iron daily supplementation is usually unsatisfactory. We hypothesize dividing the oral iron dose may improve the anemic parameters. To test this hypothesis, forty male Wistar rats were evenly assigned to the following groups (n = 8): Control nonanemic or anemic groups. Anemia was induced by repeated phlebotomy from the orbital plexus under anesthesia for 4 weeks. The anemic rats either received no treatment (IDA group) or received a total oral iron supplementation (7.1 mg/kg/day) for 1 week. Iron was administered in different treatment regimens: single dose per day (IDA-Fe-sid group), twice per day (IDA-Fe-bid group), or thrice per day (IDA-Fe-tid group). The hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit values, total iron-binding capacity (TIBC), and serum levels of iron, ferritin, and hepcidin were measured to assess the anemia. The results showed that administration of iron in divided doses for 1 week exerted significant restorative effects on the measured anemia parameters, unlike the single daily regimen. In conclusion: oral iron supplementation in divided doses increased the oral iron bioavailability; therefore, it may be more efficient in improving the anemia parameters than a single dose in short-term treatment of IDA. In clinical practice, dividing the total large iron dose into multiple smaller doses may correct IDA more quickly, especially in patients who cannot tolerate a single large dose.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.