Human iron metabolism - Importance of iron regulation

For human purposes, it's most important to understand that iron is not just an absolute requirement for life for humans but also most bacterial species, including bacteria that cause human diseases. And because plants and animals all use iron, iron can be found in a wide variety of food sources. Iron is essential because of its unique ability to serve as both an electron donor and acceptor. This property makes iron potentially toxic on its own, because iron can catalyze the conversion of hydrogen peroxide into free radicals, which in ...

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Human iron metabolism, Human iron metabolism - Importance of iron regulation, Human iron metabolism - Body iron stores, Human iron metabolism - How the body gets its iron, Human iron metabolism - Absorbing iron from the diet, Human iron metabolism - Reasons for iron deficiency, Human iron metabolism - The possibility of too much iron, Human iron metabolism - How cells get their iron from the body, Human iron metabolism - Regulation of circulating iron levels, Human iron metabolism - Diseases of iron regulation

Read more here: » Human iron metabolism: Encyclopedia II - Human iron metabolism - Importance of iron regulation

Most of the iron in the body is hoarded and recycled by the reticuloendothelial system which breaks down aged red blood cells. However, people lose a small but steady amount by sweating and by shedding cells of the skin and the mucosal lining of the gastrointestinal tract. The total amount of loss for healthy people in the developed world amounts to an estimated average of 1 mg a day for men, and 1.5-2 mg a day for women with regular menstrual periods. People in developing countries with gastrointestinal parasitic infections often lose more. ^{See also:}

Human iron metabolism, Human iron metabolism - Importance of iron regulation, Human iron metabolism - Body iron stores, Human iron metabolism - How the body gets its iron, Human iron metabolism - Absorbing iron from the diet, Human iron metabolism - Reasons for iron deficiency, Human iron metabolism - The possibility of too much iron, Human iron metabolism - How cells get their iron from the body, Human iron metabolism - Regulation of circulating iron levels, Human iron metabolism - Diseases of iron regulation

Read more here: » Human iron metabolism: Encyclopedia II - Human iron metabolism - How the body gets its iron

Iron is too toxic to simply leave iron uptake up to the cells that might or might not need it. The body needs to control the amount of iron that circulates as well. As discussed above, ferroportin transport regulates the amount of iron that leaves the duodenal enterocytes and goes into the circulation. Ferroportin is also found in the iron-storing cells of the liver and in iron-storing macrophages. Ferroportin, in turn, is regulated by hepcidin. Hepdicin stops ferroportin from releasing iron into the rest of the body. So a high level of hepc ...

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Human iron metabolism, Human iron metabolism - Importance of iron regulation, Human iron metabolism - Body iron stores, Human iron metabolism - How the body gets its iron, Human iron metabolism - Absorbing iron from the diet, Human iron metabolism - Reasons for iron deficiency, Human iron metabolism - The possibility of too much iron, Human iron metabolism - How cells get their iron from the body, Human iron metabolism - Regulation of circulating iron levels, Human iron metabolism - Diseases of iron regulation

Read more here: » Human iron metabolism: Encyclopedia II - Human iron metabolism - Regulation of circulating iron levels

As discussed above, most of the iron in the body is located on hemoglobin molecules of red blood cells. So, aging red blood cells are degraded and engulfed by specialized scavenging macrophages, which internalize the iron-containing hemoglobin, degrade it, put the iron onto transferrin molecules, and export the transferrin-iron complexes back out into the blood. This mechanism is the source of most of the iron used for blood cell production. But all cells use some iron, and must somehow get it from the circulating blood. Since iron is ...

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Human iron metabolism, Human iron metabolism - Importance of iron regulation, Human iron metabolism - Body iron stores, Human iron metabolism - How the body gets its iron, Human iron metabolism - Absorbing iron from the diet, Human iron metabolism - Reasons for iron deficiency, Human iron metabolism - The possibility of too much iron, Human iron metabolism - How cells get their iron from the body, Human iron metabolism - Regulation of circulating iron levels, Human iron metabolism - Diseases of iron regulation

Read more here: » Human iron metabolism: Encyclopedia II - Human iron metabolism - How cells get their iron from the body

Most well-nourished people in developing countries have 3-4 grams of iron in their bodies. Of this, perhaps 2.5 g is bound up in the hemoglobin needed to carry oxygen through the blood. Another 400 mg is devoted to cellular proteins that use iron for important cellular processes like storing oxygen (myoglobin), or performing energy-producing redox reactions (cytochromes). And around 3-4 mg circulates through the plasma, bound to transferrin. [3] Because so much iron is required for hemoglobin, iron deficiency anemia is the fi ...

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Human iron metabolism, Human iron metabolism - Importance of iron regulation, Human iron metabolism - Body iron stores, Human iron metabolism - How the body gets its iron, Human iron metabolism - Absorbing iron from the diet, Human iron metabolism - Reasons for iron deficiency, Human iron metabolism - The possibility of too much iron, Human iron metabolism - How cells get their iron from the body, Human iron metabolism - Regulation of circulating iron levels, Human iron metabolism - Diseases of iron regulation

Read more here: » Human iron metabolism: Encyclopedia II - Human iron metabolism - Body iron stores