Is blood donation induced low iron status associated with favourable levels of OxLDL, s-ICAM-1, sVCAM-1 and vWF-antigen in healthy men

The potential effect of iron depletion by blood donation and its relevance to cardiovascular diseases are still under debate. Markers of vascular integrity are increasingly applied in investigations of atherothrombotic diseases. In this study, we investigated whether a lower iron status through blood donation was associated with markers of vascular integrity (circulating oxidised LDL, sICAM-1, sVCAM-1 and vWF-antigen) by comparing healthy male voluntary donors to non-donors, taking into account differences in baseline characteristics. Two fasting blood samples were collected within 1 week from 41 donors and 39 non-donors. The iron status was estimated by measuring the concentration of plasma iron, ferritin, haemoglobin and hematocrit. The markers of iron status were all significantly lower in donors compared to non-donors, especially for ferritin concentrations. However, the lower iron status by blood donation was not reflected in the concentrations of OxLDL, sICAM-1, sVCAM-1 and vWF-antigen in men after adjustment for BMI and ratio total/HDL cholesterol. In order to avoid possible selection-bias related to donorship, we have additionally investigated the difference in marker concentrations within the non-donors, comparing low- and high-ferritin concentrations. This analysis suggests that ferritin concentration is not associated with in vivo LDL oxidation.