AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 235, Issue 1 18-R22, Copyright © 1978 by American Physiological Society
Effect of transferrin saturation on iron delivery in rats
A. C. Christensen, H. Huebers and C. A. Finch
Studies were carried out in rats to evaluate the release of iron from
monoferric and diferric transferrin. Isoelectric focusing was carried out
on plasma tagged at low and high saturations, and it was shown that these
represented primarily monoferric and diferric transferrin, respectively. In
vivo studies with these tagged plasmas were carried out on normal,
iron-deficient, and hypertransfused rats. In all three groups there was a
greater in vivo uptake of iron from diferric transferrin by all tissues
monitored. Though the amount varied in different animals, the ratio of
uptake between diferric and monoferric transferrin iron varied between 1.56
and 2.10 in the erythron and between 2.38 and 2.65 in the liver. These
studies indicate that changes in transferrin saturation, by changing the
proportion of monoferric to diferric transferrin iron, changed the amount
of iron released to tissues.
