Blood, 1960, Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 480-490.
© 1960 American Society of Hematology, Inc.
An Electron Microscope Study of the Source and
Distribution of Ferritin in Hepatic Parenchymal
Cells of the Newborn Rabbit
JAMES C. HAMPTON 1
1 Department of Anatomy, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash.
Evidence that erythrocytes are phagocytized and dismantled by hepatic
parenchymal cells in the newborn rabbit is presented. It is concluded that in
these cells iron is recovered from disintegrating erythrocytes, synthesized into
ferritin and released into the hepatic cell cytoplasm and into the biliary passages. These conclusions are based upon observations on the distribution of
material giving the Prussian blue reaction in sections of liver as revealed by
the light microscope and upon electron microscopic images of particles
displaying the size, density and configuration of the ferritin molecule.
Submitted on June 3, 1959
Accepted on October 8, 1959
