Ferritins play a role in preventing Fe toxicity because of their ability to sequester several thousand Fe atoms in their central cavity in a soluble, non-toxic bioavailable form. The identification of ferritin in mitochondria, an organelle with a constant generation of O2(-) as a by-product of the electron transfer, and the presence of a mitochondrial nitric oxide synthase activity opened up br...

Transport of anionized ferritins (AF,pl = 3.8-4.2), weakly cationized ferritins (WCF, pI = 7.8-8.1) and cationized ferritins (CF, pI greater than 9.0) was investigated in the rabbit aorta and vasa vasorum. After a 2-minute in situ perfusion, all ferritin species entered luminal vesicles and bound to the luminal endothelial membrane with a high surface density at vesicle necks and regions of cel...

Ferritin is an iron-storage protein and its serum level is known to increase in the patient of with inflammation and malignant tumor. To further elucidate the difference between ferritins from normal human liver tissue and that of cancer cells, their sialic acids were analyzed. The Western blot analysis and the cytochemical staining using anti-NeuGc antiserum indicated that ferritins from the h...

Ferritins are a class of iron storage and mineralization proteins found throughout the animal, plant, and microbial kingdoms. Iron is stored within the protein shell of ferritin as a hydrous ferric oxide nanoparticle with a structure similar to that of the mineral "ferrihydrite." The eight hydrophilic channels that traverse the protein shell are thought to be the primary avenues by which iron g...

iron deficiency can cause cognitive and functional learning disorders in children. some studies have reported a relationship between low serum ferritin levels in patients with anemia and helicobacter pylori (h. pylori) infection. therefore, we aimed to determine the relationship between these two common diseases. this descriptive analytical cross-sectional study was performed to assess serum fe...

Ferritin has important functions in the transition and storage of toxic metal ions, but its regulation and function in many invertebrate species are still largely unknown. In our previous work, the cDNA sequence of Sinonovacula constricta, Apostichopus japonicas and Acaudina leucoprocta were constructed and efficiently expressed in E. Coli BL21 under IPTG induction. In this follow-up study, the...

Human ferritins sequester and store iron as a stable FeOOH((s)) mineral core within a protein shell assembled from 24 subunits of two types, H and L. Core mineralization in recombinant H- and L-subunit homopolymer and heteropolymer ferritins and several site-directed H-subunit variants was investigated to determine the iron oxidation/hydrolysis chemistry as a function of iron flux into the prot...

BACKGROUND Recent studies have shown that human ferritin can be used as a reporter of gene expression for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Bacteria also encode three classes of ferritin-type molecules with iron accumulation properties. METHODS AND FINDINGS Here, we investigated whether these bacterial ferritins can also be used as MRI reporter genes and which of the bacterial ferritins is th...

Ferritin is a large multisubunit protein that stores iron in plants, animals, and bacteria. In animals, the protein is mainly cytoplasmic and is highly conserved, while in plants ferritin is found in chloroplasts and other plastids. Ferritin is synthesized in plants as a larger precursor of the mature subunit. There is no sequence information for ferritin from plants, except an NH2-terminal pep...