Fig. 1

Effect of iron administration on liver Fe staining using Prussian blue (A), % area of Fe staining (B), Fe contents (C) and HAMP (hepcidin) expression (D) in the adenine-treated rats fed a high-phosphorus diet, and the correlation between the liver Fe contents and relative liver HAMP expression (R = 0.86, p = 0.0001) (E). The No-Fe group, PO-Fe group and IP-Fe group were CKD rats without Fe administration, with peroral Fe administration and with intraperitoneal Fe administration, respectively. Data are expressed as the mean ± SD and were compared by one-way analysis of variance followed by the Tukey–Kramer test. Linear regression analyses were used to determine the correlations between parameters. A two-tailed p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant