Iron Deficiency-Induced Changes in the Hippocampus, Corpus Striatum, and Monoamines Levels That Lead to Anxiety, Depression, Sleep Disorders, and Psychotic Disorders

Iron deficiency anemia caused by severe iron deficiency in infancy is associated with poor health and severe neurological impairment such as mental, motor, social, emotional, neurophysiological, and neurocognitive dysfunction. The behavioral effects of iron deficiency can present themselves in infancy, but they are also found in adulthood. Some behaviors can start in childhood but persist throughout adulthood. The behaviors that are particularly often seen in infants and children include wariness and hesitance, lack of positive affect, and diminished social engagement. The affected behaviors in adults include anxiety, depression, higher complex cogitative tasks, and other psychological disorders. The mechanisms of how iron deficiency affects behavior include affecting the hippocampus, the corpus striatum, and certain neurotransmitters. The hippocampus is a brain region that is essential for memory, learning, and other purposes. The hippocampus is very sensitive to lack of Iron during early development. The corpus striatum dispatches dopamine-rich projects to the prefrontal cortex, and it is involved in controlling executive activities such as planning, inhibitory control, sustained attention, working memory, regulation of emotion, memory storage and retrieval, motivation, and reward. Iron deficiency has been known to cause changes in behavioral and developmental aspects by affecting neurotransmitters such as serotonin, noradrenaline, and dopamine. Iron deficiency causes behavior changes that can present in infancy and, even if corrected postnatally, it can have long-lasting effects well into adulthood.