The incorporation of iron into chicken apoferritin in the presence of ceruloplasmin

Abstract

After assaying the appropriate conditions for the experiments, the oxidation of iron with incorporation into chicken apoferritin was studied in the presence of ceruloplasmin, analysing the roles of iron, apoferritin and ceruloplasmin.The results show that the process is hastened by both apoferritin and ceruloplasmin.The dependence of the rate with respect to iron, apoferritin and ceruloplasmin concentrations was in general linear in the studied range.However, for low concentrations of iron or apoferritin the behaviour deviated from the linearity, suggesting that significant changes can happen in the mechanism of iron incorporation into apoferritin when the ratio of iron to apoferritin varies, which is in accordance with previous works.Finally, some differences found in the influence of the species on the process, with respect to an earlier report, open the possibility of differences in the affinity for iron between avian and mammalian apoferritins.