• at 4 months of age, massive iron accumulation is observed in liver and pancreas of mutants; significant iron is detected in the heart compared to wild-type
• iron accumulates in liver parenchymal cells (hepatocytes) with sparing of the macrophages; iron deposition is more prominent in the centrolobular areas
• liver iron content is elevated 5-fold in mutants at 2 months of age, while at 8 months, liver iron is increased ~15-fold over controls
• at 8 months, mutants have ~30-fold increase in pancreatic iron content (2056 ug/g tissue vs 66 ug/g tissue in wild-type)
• at 8 months of age, heart iron content is 5.5-fold higher in mutants (513 ug/g) compared to controls (92 ug/g)