Fig. 1

Individual pig timelines of dextran-iron dosing and timepoints of investigations. a Illustrates for each pig in group A the weekly intramuscular dosing of dextran iron, given in mg Fe/kg BW/week, the duration of iron loading in months and the timepoints of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) and of endomyocardial biopsies (EMB), performed at the end of the sessions. The dose of dextran iron in mg Fe/kg/ week was fixed in all pigs during the whole follow-up, but the total weekly dose injected was adjusted to the body weight (BW) immediately after each CMR/biopsy session. Pig 2, 4, 6 and 7 died of biopsy complications, indicated by * (for details see the Results). b Illustrates the dextran-iron dosing and duration of iron loading of the  pigs in group B, comprising 16  pigs, who had taken a full-wall biopsy from the cardiac septum immediately after last CMR session followed by euthanasia. Group B also includes pig 8 to 11 from group A, who also had these biopsies taken after euthanasia. Principles of iron loading are identical in both groups, except in pig 13 and 14: The dextran-iron dose was increased from 5 and 10 mg Fe/g, respectively, to 35 mg/kg in both pigs after about 12 months of iron loading