Blood, 1960, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 71-81.
© 1960 American Society of Hematology, Inc.
Kinetics of Intracellular Iron in Rabbit Reticulocytes
DAVID W. ALLEN 1 and
JAMES H. JANDL 1
1 Thorndike Memorial Laboratory, and the Second and Fourth (Harvard)
Medical Services, Boston City Hospital, and the Department of Medicine, Harvard
Medical School, Boston, Mass.
The kinetics of the intracellular iron were studied in an invitro system
using reticulocyte-rich rabbit red cells incubated with Fe59-labeled plasma.
The incubation was stopped at intervals of a few seconds to 70 minutes,
and the cells were fractionated by differential centrifugation and by chemical
means. In being selectively taken up by reticulocytes, Fe59 is first associated
with particulate fractions and then gradually released to the soluble cytoplasm, when the iron is incorporated into hemoglobin and into a transient nonhemoglobin protein phase. The entire process from the initial binding of
iron by cell surfaces receptors until the incorporation of iron into hemoglobin
requires only 6 to 8 minutes at 37 C. It is probable that in suitable concentrations, lead allows Fe59 to accumulate in stroma but blocks its entry into the
nonhemoglobin protein iron phase and into hemoglobin.
Submitted on February 3, 1959
Accepted on April 10, 1959
