Ciprofloxacin: a novel therapeutic agent for iron overload?
OBJECTIVE
Major thalassemia is one of the hematological diseases requiring multiple blood transfusions, which results in iron overload in the liver, heart and other organs. Current iron chelation therapy consists of intravenous (IV) deferoxamine and oral deferasirox and deferiprone. Although these chelators are effective, many side effects are reported. In the present study, the iron-chelating effect of ciprofloxacin with good oral absorption was investigated.


METHODS
Thirty male albino Wistar rats were used for the study. Ciprofloxacin (7 or 14 mg/kg per day) was administered simultaneously with iron (0.03 g/kg per day) or after one-month administration of iron. Ciprofloxacin effect on iron absorption in the liver and heart was studied carefully using atomic absorption.


RESULTS
A significant decrease in the liver and heart iron following the ciprofloxacin (14 mg/kg per day) administration was observed, when compared with the control group. This ciprofloxacin-induced tissue iron depletion was more pronounced when it was administered simultaneously with iron, when it was administered for a longer duration (2 months rather than 1 month) and when it was given in higher doses (14 mg/kg per day).


CONCLUSIONS
Administration of ciprofloxacin may help to decrease the burden of parenteral administration, thereby improving compliance and also the life expectancy of thalassemic patients.
Mitra
M
Elmi
Parvaneh
P
Rahimi-Moghaddam
Khosrou
K
Abdi
Mehdi
M
Shafiee-Ardestani
Razi Institute for Drug Research Department of Pharmacology College of Medicine Iran University of Medical Sciences Tehran, Iran Phone: +98 21 88058696 E-mail: masmah99@iums.ac.ir.
Massoud
M
Mahmoudian