Evaluation of Oxidative Stress Induced by Iron Injection in Healthy Volunteers Versus Critical Care Patients

Anemia is frequent among critically ill patients, with 60% of the patients being anemic at admission and more than 80% at discharge. This anemia is associated with an increased MORBI-mORTALITY. However, therapeutic options, mainly transfusion and erythropoietin, are disappointing. There is a remaining therapeutic option, iron injection, which has not been fully evaluated because of potential restrictions: inflammation may prevent its efficacy, and iron could be toxic, notably through the generation of oxidative stress. Our research is aimed at exploring the benefit of iron treatment in the critical care anemia.

The investigators already demonstrated in a MURIN model of critical care anemia that the master regulator of iron metabolism, hepcidin, is repressed and that iron can be mobilized from the stores despite inflammation. In addition, in an observational human study, the investigators reported that 25% of critically ill patients had iron deficiency and low to normal hepcidin levels.

All together, these data indicate that iron therapy may be beneficial in this situation. In the present study, the investigators evaluate the toxicity of iron in that context of critical care anemia. Iron, especially non-transferrin bound iron, is known to induce the generation of oxygen-derived free radicals through the Fenton reaction. However, the generation of oxidative stress secondary to iron injection has not been investigated in the critically ill. In our animal model, preliminary data indicate that the production of oxidative stress in the serum following iron injection may be prevented by inflammation.

Objectives: To evaluate the pro-oxidant toxicity of iron injections in critically ill patients and in healthy volunteers. The investigators hypothesize that the oxidative stress will be reduced in critically ill as compared to healthy volunteers

Human study : It will be an open "proof-of-concept" study aiming at evaluating iron toxicity in critically ill patients (n=40) as compared to healthy volunteers (n=40).