Abstract
The effects of excessive dietary iron intake on the body have been an important topic. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of high-dose iron on intestinal damage and regeneration in dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis model mice. A total of 72 8-week-old adult C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into two dietary treatment groups: the basal diet supplemented with 45 (control) and 450 mg/kg iron (high-iron) from ferrous sulfate. The mice were fed different diets for 2 weeks, and then 2.5% DSS was orally administered to all mice for 7 days. Samples of different tissues were collected on days 0, 3, and 7 post administration (DPA). High-iron treatment significantly decreased the relative weight of the large intestine at 7 DPA but not at 0 DPA or 3 DPA. High dietary iron increased the jejunal villus width at 0 DPA, decreased the villus width and the crypt depth of the jejunum at 3 DPA, and decreased the number of colonic crypts at 7 DPA. Meanwhile, high dietary iron decreased the number of goblet cells in the jejunal villi and the Paneth cells in the jejunal crypts at 0 DPA, increased the number of goblet cells per crypt of the colon at 3 DPA, and the number of Paneth cells in the jejunal crypts, the goblet cells in the colon, the Ki67-positive proliferating cells in the colon, and the Sex-determining region Y-box transcription factor 9+ (SOX9) cells in the jejunum crypts and colon at 7 DPA. The organoid formation rate was increased by high-iron treatments at 3 DPA and 7 DPA. High dietary iron treatment decreased the mRNA level of jejunal jagged canonical Notch ligand 2 (Jag-2) at 0 DPA and bone morphogenetic protein 4 (Bmp4) and neural precursor cell-expressed developmentally downregulated 8 (Nedd8) in the jejunum and colon at 7 DPA, whereas it increased the mRNA expression of the serum/glucocorticoid-regulated kinase 1 (Sgk1) in the colon at 3 DPA. The results suggested that a high dose of iron aggravated intestinal injury but promoted intestinal repair by regulating intestinal epithelial cell renewal and intestinal stem cell activity in adult mice with colitis.