Biodistribution and predictive hepatic gene expression of intravenous iron sucrose.

INTRODUCTION: We have examined iron biodistribution and hepatic gene expression in rats following administration of the generic Iron Sucrose Azad (ISA) or the reference iron sucrose drug Venofer®. METHODS: ISA and Venofer® were administered intravenously to normal, non-anemic, male rats at 15 mg/kg (a supra-therapeutic dose-level). To evaluate biodistribution, tissue iron levels were determined over 28 days for plasma, liver, spleen, bone marrow, heart, kidney, lung and stomach using a validated ICP-MS method. Hepatic gene expression was evaluated by microarray analysis of mRNA from samples taken 24 h after drug administration. RESULTS: Iron concentration/time profiles for plasma and tissues were quantitatively similar for ISA and Venofer. Following administration, circulating iron levels briefly exceeded transferrin binding capacity and there was a transient increase in hepatic iron. Bone marrow iron levels remained elevated throughout the study. No increases in tissue iron levels were observed in the heart, stomach or lungs. Spleen iron levels increased over the course of the study in treated and control rats. Small, transient increases were recorded in the kidneys of treated rats. The effects of ISA and Venofer® on hepatic gene transcription were similar. Principal components analysis showed that there was no systematic effect of either treatment on transcriptional profiles. Only a small number of genes showed significant modulation of expression. No transcriptional pattern matches with toxicity pathways were found in the ToxFX database for either treatment. No modulation of key genes in apoptosis, inflammation or oxidative stress pathways was detected. DISCUSSION: These findings demonstrated that the biodistribution of administered iron is essentially similar for Iron Sucrose Azad and Venofer®, that iron sucrose partitions predominantly into the liver, spleen and bone marrow, and that hepatic gene expression studies did not provide any evidence of toxicity in animals treated at a supra-therapeutic dose-level.

Physicochemical and toxicological characterization of a new generic iron sucrose preparation.

Intravenous iron preparations are key components in the management of anaemia of various etiologies. These iron-carbohydrate complexes permit safe systemic delivery of iron, whilst protecting from the potential toxic effects of over-saturation. This in turn permits efficient haematopoiesis following erythropoietin administration. Since the rate of release of iron is dependent upon the structure of this iron-carbohydrate complex, it is essential to ensure that an intravenous iron preparation is well characterized and its properties documented. This report describes physicochemical and toxicological studies into a new iron sucrose generic preparation, "Iron Sucrose Azad (ISA)", using the original iron sucrose product as reference. It could be demonstrated that the specifications and physicochemical characteristics of ISA reflect those of the reference product. Furthermore, in a rat model previously shown to identify possible toxicological effects of "unsimilar" iron sucrose preparations, ISA was found to have the same properties as the reference product, with both being well tolerated.