Figure 7

Iron supplementation upregulates the gene expression of iron prosthetic groups synthesis. (a–d) Male C57BL/6J mice of 6 weeks of age were fed with each diet for 15 weeks as specified in Fig. 1. (a, c) mRNA expression analysis related to the synthesis of heme (Heme) and Fe–S cluster (Fe–S) in (a) liver; and (c) skeletal muscle (n = 5–6). Data are expressed as mean ± SEM values. Statistical analysis was performed using a one-way ANOVA followed by Holm–Sidak’s post hoc test. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ns not significant. (Significant differences vs. HF). (b, d) Correlation heatmap between relative mRNA expression levels of mitochondrial (Mt) related genes and Heme or Fe–S related genes in the (b) liver; and (d) skeletal muscle of HF and HF + SFC (n = 12). Data were analysed by Pearson correlation coefficient. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001. (e) Analysis of mRNA expression related to Mt, Heme, and Fe–S from primary hepatocytes isolated from 5-weeks-old male C57BL/6J mice cultured for 24 h (n = 4). These assay mediums were either supplemented with SFC 100 μM (SFC 100), SFC 300 μM (SFC 300), SFC 1000 μM (SFC 1000), or did not contain any supplements (Vehicle). All media contains 0.05% DMSO. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM values. Statistical analysis was performed via one-way ANOVA followed by Holm-Sidak’s post hoc test. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; ns not significant. (Significant differences vs. Vehicle).