Using Fe biofortification strategies to reduce both Ni concentration and oral bioavailability for rice with high Ni.

Due to naturally high Ni or soil Ni contamination, high Ni concentrations are reported in rice, raising a need to reduce rice Ni exposure risk. Here, reduction in rice Ni concentration and Ni oral bioavailability with rice Fe biofortification and dietary Fe supplementation was assessed using rice cultivation and mouse bioassays. Results showed that for rice grown in a high geogenic Ni soil, increases in rice Fe concentration from ∼10.0 to ∼30.0 µg g-1 with foliar EDTA-FeNa application led to decreases in Ni concentration from ∼4.0 to ∼1.0 µg g-1 due to inhibited Ni transport from shoot to grains via down-regulated Fe transporters. When fed to mice, Fe-biofortified rice was significantly (p < 0.01) lower in Ni oral bioavailability (59.9 ± 11.9% vs. 77.8 ± 15.1%; 42.4 ± 9.81% vs. 70.4 ± 6.81%). Dietary amendment of exogenous Fe supplements to two Ni-contaminated rice samples at 10-40 µg Fe g-1 also significantly (p < 0.05) reduced Ni RBA from 91.7% to 61.0-69.5% and from 77.4% to 29.2-55.2% due to down-regulation of duodenal Fe transporter expression. Results suggest that the Fe-based strategies not only reduced rice Ni concentration but also lowered rice Ni oral bioavailability, playing dual roles in reducing rice-Ni exposure.