Functional heterogeneity of the rat liver ferritin induced by single dose administration of iron

Abstract

The alteration of the constituents of the ferritin component was investigated by H/L subunit ratio and isoferritin pattern after single dose administration of the iron to the rats. The biochemical characterization of the ferritin was performed 3, 24, and 72 hours respectively.The results obtained were as follows :1) The protein concentration of the liver ferritin 3 hours after iron administration was three times higher in comparison with control group, however, it decreased to two times after 72 hours. Contrary, the value of the iron deficiency rats was 1/7 of the control group.2) The H/L subunit ratio of newly synthesized ferritin at 3 hours, after the iron administration was H-subunit predominate (H/L : 57/43) in comparison with the control (33/67), however, it returned to the control level after 72 hours. The H/L subunit ratio of the liver ferritin from the iron deficiency rats was 47/53 and was essentially identical with that of liver ferritin 3 hours after iron administration.3) The newly synthesized ferritin revealed higher iron content in the time course of 3 to 72 hours in comparison with the control group. The iron content of the liver ferritin from anemic rats remained identical level with that of the control rats. It was suggested that there was no increase in the amounts of the iron poor ferritin in the livers of the iron deficient rats.4) The ferritin of the rat liver was fractionated into the six isomers at the range of pI 5.04-5.72. The isoferritin at the most acidic side, pI 5.04 was 9/1 in H/L subunit and was H-subunit predominant. As the pI sift to the basic, the ratio decrease gradually and the most basic isomer become L-subunit dominant, and L-subunit consisted 77% of the composition.5) The isoferritin patterns detected by the protein were altered after the iron administration. The pattern became the acidic ferritin dominant at 3 hours, then the intermediate type at 24 hours, and finally reverted to the level of the control at 72 hours after the iron administration.6) The patterns detected by Fe activity and iron distribution in the same experiment disclosed identical results which were obtained by the protein detection.