Vanadium Decreases Hepcidin mRNA Gene Expression in STZ-Induced Diabetic Rats, Improving the Anemic State Sánchez González, Cristina Rivas García, Lorenzo Rodríguez Nogales, Alba Algieri, Francesca Gálvez Peralta, Julio Juan Aranda Ramírez, Pilar Montes Bayón, María Llopis González, Juan Vanadium Hepcidin Inflammation Anemia Diabetes Rats We are grateful for the support received from the Consejeria de Innovacion, Ciencia y Empresa, Andalusian Regional Government (Project P06-CTS-01435), and from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity (SAF2011-29648); the CIBERehd is funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III. This paper forms part of the Doctoral Program in Nutrition and Food Science of the University of Granada. Diabetes is a disease with an inflammatory component that courses with an anemic state. Vanadium (V) is an antidiabetic agent that acts by stimulating insulin signaling. Hepcidin blocks the intestinal absorption of iron and the release of iron from its deposits. We aim to investigate the effect of V on hepcidin mRNA expression and its consequences on the hematological parameters in streptozotocin-induced diabetic Wistar rats. Control healthy rats, diabetic rats, and diabetic rats treated with 1 mgV/day were examined for five weeks. The mineral levels were measured in diet and serum samples. Hepcidin expression was quantified in liver samples. Inflammatory and hematological parameters were determined in serum or whole blood samples. The inflammatory status was higher in diabetic than in control rats, whereas the hematological parameters were lower in the diabetic rats than in the control rats. Hepcidin mRNA expression was significantly lower in the V-treated diabetic rats than in control and untreated diabetic rats. The inflammatory status remained at a similar level as the untreated diabetic group. However, the hematological profile improved after the V-treatment, reaching similar levels to those found in the control group. Serum iron level was higher in V-treated than in untreated diabetic rats. We conclude that V reduces gene expression of hepcidin in diabetic rats, improving the anemic state caused by diabetes. 2021-05-25T07:20:50Z 2021-05-25T07:20:50Z 2021-04-11 journal article Sánchez-González, C.; Rivas-García, L.; Rodríguez-Nogales, A.; Algieri, F.; Gálvez, J.; Aranda, P.; Montes-Bayón, M.; Llopis, J. Vanadium Decreases Hepcidin mRNA Gene Expression in STZ-Induced Diabetic Rats, Improving the Anemic State. Nutrients 2021, 13, 1256. [https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13041256] http://hdl.handle.net/10481/68695 10.3390/nu13041256 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ open access Atribución 3.0 España MDPI