Evaluation of systemic iron accumulation in blood serum and bone.

In blood serum: a) Total iron concentration; b) Transferrin saturation; c) Total concentration of serum ferritin. In bone: d) Detection of iron deposits (stained in blue) in femur bone trabeculae and bone marrow through Perls staining. Each group analyzed was composed by n = 6 animals for [C+I], [KO] and [KO+I], and by n = 5 for [C]. Statistical comparison was performed with T-test (Welch’s correction) between control and iron-enriched diets for both WT ([C] and [C+I]]) and Hfe-KO mice ([KO] and [KO+I])). Group deviations are expressed as standard error to the mean (SEM). Statistical significance: (*)-p<0.05; (**)-p<0.01; (****)-p<0.0001.