Heme and non-heme iron transporters in non-polarized and polarized cells.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Heme and non-heme iron from diet, and recycled iron from hemoglobin are important products of the synthesis of iron-containing molecules. In excess, iron is potentially toxic because it can produce reactive oxygen species through the Fenton reaction. Humans can absorb, transport, store, and recycle iron without an excretory system to remove excess iron. Two candidate heme transporters and two iron transporters have been reported thus far. Heme incorporated into cells is degraded by heme oxygenases (HOs), and the iron product is reutilized by the body. To specify the processes of heme uptake and degradation, and the reutilization of iron, we determined the subcellular localizations of these transporters and HOs.

Results

In this study, we analyzed the subcellular lo

SUBMITTER: Yanatori I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3224662 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature