Biosynthesis of ferritin in rat hepatoma cells and rat livers. II. Binding of iron by ferritin protein.

Ferritin and its protein subunits in rat hepatoma cell clone M-5123-C1 were biosynthetically labeled with [14C]leucine and 59Fe. Radioimmunoassays of ferritin/apoferritin and of protein subunits in the free polyribosome, membrane-bound polyribosome, smooth membrane, and cytosol fractions were done with ferritin-specific and subunit-specific rabbit IgG antibodies at various time intervals after pulsing. Much more 59Fe was bound by ferritin/apoferritin than by subunits in all of the cell fractions. Binding of iron to subunits may have been a random process. When hepatoma cells were simultaneously pulse-labeled with 59Fe and [14C]leucine, uptake of much of the 59Fe by ferritin occurred relatively early, in comparison to incorporation of [14C]leucine, in all of the cell fractions examined. Thus, 59Fe was readily incorporated into pre-existing ferritin. We conclude that most, if not nearly all, of the iron is incorporated after assembly of protein subunits.     

Multidentate pyridinones inhibit the metabolism of nontransferrin-bound iron by hepatocytes and hepatoma cells.

The therapeutic effect of iron (Fe) chelators on the potentially toxic plasma pool of nontransferrin-bound iron (NTBI), often present in Fe overload diseases and in some cancer patients during chemotherapy, is of considerable interest. In the present investigation, several multidentate pyridinones were synthesized and compared with their bidentate analogue, deferiprone (DFP; L1, orally active) and desferrioxamine (DFO; hexadentate; orally inactive) for their effect on the metabolism of NTBI in the rat hepatocyte and a hepatoma cell line (McArdle 7777, Q7). Hepatoma cells took up much less NTBI than the hepatocytes (< 10%). All the chelators inhibited NTBI uptake (80-98%) much more than they increased mobilization of Fe from cells prelabelled with NTBI (5-20%). The hexadentate pyridinone, N,N,N-tris(3-hydroxy-1-methyl-2(1H)-pyridinone-4-carboxaminoethyl)amine showed comparable activity to DFO and DFP. There was no apparent correlation between Fe status, Fe uptake and chelator activity in hepatocytes, suggesting that NTBI transport is not regulated by cellular Fe levels. The intracellular distribution of iron taken up as NTBI changed in the presence of chelators suggesting that the chelators may act intracellularly as well as at the cell membrane. In conclusion (a) rat hepatocytes have a much greater capacity to take up NTBI than the rat hepatoma cell line (Q7), (b) all chelators bind NTBI much more effectively during the uptake phase than in the mobilization of Fe which has been stored from NTBI and (c) while DFP is the most active chelator, other multidentate pyridinones have potential in the treatment of Fe overload, particularly at lower, more readily clinically available concentrations, and during cancer chemotherapy, by removing plasma NTBI.     

Ferritin iron kinetics and protein turnover in K562 cells

The binding, incorporation, and release of iron by ferritin were investigated in K562 cells using both pulse-chase and long term decay studies with 59Fe-transferrin as the labeled iron source. After a 20-min pulse of labeled transferrin, 60% of the 59Fe was bound by ferritin with the proportion increasing to 70% by 4 h. This initial binding was reduced to 35% when the cells were exposed to the chelator desferrioxamine (5 mM) for an additional 30 min. By 4 h the association of 59Fe with ferritin was unaffected by the presence of the chelator, and levels of 59Fe-ferritin were identical to those in control cells (70%). Between 4-10h there was a parallel decline in 59Fe-ferritin in both control and desferrioxamine-treated cells. When incoming iron was bound by ferritin it was, therefore, initially chelatable but with time progressed to a further, nonchelatable compartment. In turnover studies where ferritin was preloaded with 59Fe by overnight incubation, 50% of the label was released from the protein by 18 h, contrasting with a t 1/2 for cellular iron release of approximately 70 h. The half-time of 59Fe release from ferritin was accelerated to 11 h by the presence of desferrioxamine. The half-time for ferritin protein turnover determined by [35S]methionine labeling was approximately 12 h in the presence or absence of the chelator. Thus, when the reassociation of iron with ferritin was prevented by the exogenous chelator there was a concordant decay of both protein and iron moieties. The direct involvement of lysosomes in this turnover was demonstrated by the use of the inhibitors leupeptin and methylamine which stabilized both 59Fe (t 1/2 = 24 h) and 35S (t 1/2 = 25.6 h) labels. We conclude that in this cell type the predominant mechanism by which iron is released from ferritin is through the constitutive degradation of the protein by lysosomes.     

Targeted inhibition of transferrin-mediated iron uptake in Hep G2 hepatoma cells

We have used a model system consisting of two human hepatoma cell lines, Hep G2, representing well differentiated normal hepatocytes, and PLC/PRF/5, representing poorly differentiated malignant hepatocytes, to demonstrate that the differential presence of asialoglycoprotein receptor activity in these cell lines can be used to influence transferrin-mediated iron uptake. We based our experiments on the following facts: Hep G2 cells possess receptors that bind, internalize, and degrade galactose-terminal (asialo-)glycoproteins; PLC/PRF/5 cells have barely detectable asialoglycoprotein receptor activity; both cell lines possess active transferrin-mediated iron uptake; transferrin releases iron during acidification of intracellular vesicular compartments; primary amines, e.g. primaquine, inhibit acidification and iron release from transferrin. When added to culture medium, [55Fe]transferrin delivered 55Fe well to both cell lines. As expected, in the presence of [55Fe]transferrin, free primaquine caused a concentration-dependent decrease in 55Fe uptake in both cell lines. To create a targetable conjugate, primaquine was covalently coupled to asialofetuin to form asialofetuin-primaquine. When PLC/PRF/5 (asialoglycoprotein receptor (-)) cells were preincubated with this conjugate, transferrin-mediated 55Fe uptake was unaffected. However, transferrin-mediated 55Fe uptake by Hep G2 (asialoglycoprotein receptor (+)) cells under identical conditions was specifically decreased by 55% compared to control cells incubated without the conjugate.     

Erythropoietin effects on iron metabolism in rat bone marrow cells

This paper describes a study of the incorporation of ^{5 9}Fe from ^{5 9}Fe-labelled rat transferrin into rat bone marrow cells in culture. ^{5 9}Fe was found in both stroma and cytoplasm of marrow cells, and the cytoplasmic ^{5 9}Fe separated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, into ferritin, haemoglobin and a low molecular weight fraction.The incorporation of ^{5 9}Fe into all three cytoplasmic fractions, but not into the stroma, increased progressively with time. Erythropoietin stimulated the increase of ^{5 9}Fe in ferritin within 1 h, the earliest time examined, and more than 3 h later in the stroma and haemoglobin.A proportion of the ⁵⁹Fe incorporated into the stroma and low molecular weight iron fractions during a 1 h incubation with ⁵⁹Fe-labelled transferrin was mobilised into ferritin and haemoglobin during a subsequent 4-h “cold-chase”. Erythropoietin, when present during the “cold-chase”, did not influence these ⁵⁹Fe fluxes. The erythropoietin stimulation of ⁵⁹Fe incorporation into ferritin, one of the earliest erythropoietin effects to be recorded, was therefore considered to be due to an increase of ⁵⁹Fe uptake by the hormone-responsive cells rather than a direct effect on ferritin synthesis.20-h cultures containing erythropoietin when incubated with ⁵⁹Fe-labelled transferrin for 4 h, showed dose-related erythropoietin stimulation of ⁵⁹Fe incorporation into haemoglobin only.In the presence of 10 mM isonicotinic acid hydrazide, ⁵⁹Fe incorporation into haemoglobin was inhibited, as in reticulocytes (Ponka, P. and Neuwirt, J. (1969) Blood 33, 690–707), while that into the stroma, ferritin and low molecular weight iron fractions, was stimulated; there were no reproducible effects of erythropoietin.     

Ferritin contains less iron (59Fe) in cells when the protein pores are unfolded by mutation

Ferric minerals in ferritins are protected from cytoplasmic reductants and Fe2+ release by the protein nanocage until iron need is signaled. Deletion of ferritin genes is lethal; two critical ferritin functions are concentrating iron and oxidant protection (consuming cytoplasmic iron and oxygen in the mineral). In solution, opening/closing (gating) of eight ferritin protein pores controls reactions between external reductant and the ferritin mineral; pore gating is altered by mutation, low heat, and physiological urea (1 mm) and monitored by CD spectroscopy, protein crystallography, and Fe2+ release rates. To study the effects of a ferritin pore gating mutation in living cells, we cloned/expressed human ferritin H and H L138P, homologous to the frog open pore model that was unexpressable in human cells. Human ferritin H L138P behaved like the open pore ferritin model in vitro as follows: (i) normal protein cage assembly and mineralization, (ii) increased iron release (t1/2) decreased 17-fold), and (iii) decreased alpha-helix (8%). Overexpression (> 4-fold), in HeLa cells, showed for ferritin H L138P equal protein expression and total cell 59Fe but increased chelatable iron, 16%, p < 0.01 (59Fe in the deferoxamine-containing medium), and decreased 59Fe in ferritin, 28%, p < 0.01, compared with wild type. The coincidence of decreased 59Fe in open pore ferritin with increased chelatable 59Fe in cells expressing the ferritin open pore mutation suggests that ferritin pore gating influences to the amount of iron (59Fe) in ferritin in vivo.     

Regulation of intracellular iron distribution in K562 human erythroleukemia cells

Following a pulse with 59Fe-transferrin, K562 erythroleukemia cells incorporate a significant amount of 59Fe into ferritin. Conditions or manipulations which alter the supply of iron to cells result in changes in the rate of ferritin biosynthesis with consequent variations in the size of the ferritin pool. Overnight exposure to iron donors such as diferric transferrin or hemin increases the ferritin level 2-4- or 6-8-fold above that of the control, respectively. Treatment with the anti-human transferrin receptor antibody, OKT9 (which reduces the iron uptake by decreasing the number of transferrin receptors) lowers the ferritin level by approximately 70-80% with respect to the control. The fraction of total cell-associated 59Fe (given as a pulse via transferrin) that becomes ferritin bound is proportional to the actual ferritin level and is independent of the instantaneous amount of iron taken up. This has allowed us to establish a curve that correlates different levels of intracellular ferritin with corresponding percentages of incoming iron delivered to ferritin. Iron released from transferrin appears to distribute to ferritin according to a partition function; the entering load going into ferritin is set for a given ferritin level over a wide range of actual amounts of iron delivered.     

Intracellular free iron and acidic pathways mediate TNF-induced death of rat hepatoma cells

Rat hepatoma HTC cells are intrinsically resistant to various apoptosis-inducing agents. Strategies to induce death in hepatoma cells are needed and the present experimental study was aimed to investigate the sensitivity of HTC cells to TNF and to clarify the mechanisms of action of this cytokine. Cells were treated with TNF and death mechanisms characterized employing an integration of morphological and biochemical techniques. HTC cells, sensitized to TNF toxicity with cycloheximide, died in a caspase-independent apoptosis-like manner. Although we found no evidence for a direct involvement of lysosomal cathepsins, bafilomycin A1 and ammonium chloride significantly attenuated TNF toxicity. Also desferrioxamine mesylate, an iron chelator, partly protected the cells from TNF, while a complete protection was afforded by combining ammonium chloride and iron chelator. Moreover, HTC were protected from TNF also by lipophylic antioxidants and diphenylene iodonium chloride, a NADPH oxidase inhibitor. These data depict a novel mechanism of TNF-mediated cytotoxicity in HTC cells, in which the endo-lysosomal compartment, NADPH oxidase and an iron-mediated pro-oxidant status contribute in determining a caspase-independent, apoptosis-like cell death.     

Iron accumulation and iron-regulatory protein activity in human hepatoma (HepG2) cells

Iron may populate distinct hepatocellular iron pools that differentially regulate expression of proteins such as ferritin and transferrin receptor (TfR) through iron-regulatory mRNA-binding proteins (IRPs), and may additionally regulate uptake and accumulation of non-transferrin-bound iron (NTBI). We examined iron-regulatory protein (IRP) binding activity and ferritin/TfR expression in human hepatoma (HepG2) cells exposed to iron at different levels for different periods. Several iron-dependent RNA-binding activities were identified, but only IRP increased with beta-mercaptoethanol. With exposures between 0 and 20 microg/ml iron, decreases in IRP binding accompanied large changes in TfR and ferritin expression, while chelation of residual iron with deferoxamine (DFO) caused a large increase in IRP binding with little additional effect on TfR or ferritin expression. Cellular iron content increased beyond 4 days of exposure to iron at 20 microg/ml, when IRP binding, TfR, and ferritin had all reached stable levels. However, iron content of the cells plateaued by 7 days, or decreased with 24 h exposure to very high concentrations (>50 microg/ml) of iron. These results indicate that iron-replete HepG2 cells exhibit a narrow range of maximal responsiveness of the IRP-regulatory mechanism, whose functional response is blunted both by excessive iron exposure and by removal of iron from a chelatable pool. HepG2 cells are able to limit iron accumulation upon higher or prolonged exposure to NTBI, apparently independent of the IRP mechanism.     

Iron prevents ferritin turnover in hepatic cells

It has long been assumed that iron regulates the turnover of ferritin, but evidence for or against this idea has been lacking. This issue was addressed using rat hepatoma cells with characteristics of hepatocytes subjected to a continuous influx of iron. Iron-pretreated cells were pulsed with [(35)S]Met for 60 min or with (59)Fe overnight and harvested up to 30 h thereafter, during which they were/were not cultured with ferric ammonium citrate (FAC; 180 microm). Radioactivity in ferritin/ferritin subunits of cell heat supernatants was determined by autoradiography of rockets obtained by immunoelectrophoresis or after precipitation with ferritin antibody and SDS-PAGE. Both methods gave similar results. During the +FAC chase, the concentration of ferritin in the cells increased linearly with time. Without FAC, the half-life of (35)S-ferritin was 19-20 h; with FAC there was no turnover. Without FAC, the iron in ferritin had an apparent half-life of 20 h; in the presence of FAC there was no loss of (59)Fe. Without FAC, concentrations of ferritin iron and protein also decreased in parallel. We conclude that a continuous influx of excess iron can completely inhibit the degradation of ferritin protein and that the iron and protein portions of ferritin molecules may be coordinately degraded.     

Factors involved in the regulation of iron transport through reticuloendothelial cells

The effects of various maneuvers on the handling of 59Fe-labeled heat-damaged red cells (59Fe HDRC) by the reticuloendothelial system were studied in rats. Raising the saturation of transferrin with oral carbonyl iron had little effect on splenic release of 59Fe but markedly inhibited hepatic release. Splenic 59Fe release was, however, inhibited by the prior administration of unlabeled HDRC or by the combination of carbonyl iron and unlabeled HDRC. When carbonyl iron was administered with unlabeled free hemoglobin, the pattern of 59Fe distribution was the same as that observed when carbonyl iron was given alone. 59Fe ferritin was identified in the serum after the administration of 59Fe HDRC but the size of the fraction was not affected by raising the saturation of transferrin. Sizing column analyses of tissue extracts from the spleen at various times after the administration of 59Fe HDRC revealed a progressive shift from hemoglobin to ferritin, with only small amounts present in a small molecular weight fraction. The small molecular weight fraction was greater in hepatic extracts, with the difference being marked in animals that had received prior carbonyl iron. The increased hepatic retention of 59Fe associated with a raised saturation of transferrin was reduced by a hydrophobic ferrous chelator (2,2'-bipyridine), a hydrophilic ferric chelator (desferrioxamine), and an extracellular hydrophilic ferric chelator (diethylene-triaminepentacetic acid). Transmembrane iron transport did not seem to be a rate-limiting factor in iron release, since no differences in 59Fe membrane fractions were noted in the different experimental settings. These findings are consistent with a model in which RE cells release iron from catabolized red cells at a relatively constant rate. When the saturation of transferrin is raised, a significant proportion of the iron is transported from the spleen to the liver either in small molecular weight complexes or in ferritin. Although a saturated transferrin had no effect on the release of iron from reticuloendothelial cells, prior loading with HDRC conditions them to release less iron.     

Effects of deferasirox and deferiprone on cellular iron load in the human hepatoma cell line HepaRG

Two oral chelators, CP20 (deferiprone) and ICL670 (deferasirox), have been synthesized for the purpose of treating iron overload diseases, especially thalassemias. Given their antiproliferative effects resulting from the essential role played by iron in cell processes, such compounds might also be useful as anticancer agents. In the present study, we tested the impact of these two iron chelators on iron metabolism, in the HepaRG cell line which allowed us to study proliferating and differentiated hepatocytes. ICL670 uptake was greater than the CP20 uptake. The iron depletion induced by ICL670 in differentiated cells increased soluble transferrin receptor expression, decreased intracellular ferritin expression, inhibited ⁵⁵Fe (III) uptake, and reduced the hepatocyte concentration of the labile iron pool. In contrast, CP20 induced an unexpected slight increase in intracellular ferritin, which was amplified by iron-treated chelator exposure. CP20 also promoted Fe(III) uptake in differentiated HepaRG cells, thus leading to an increase of both the labile pool and storage forms of iron evaluated by calcein fluorescence and Perls staining, respectively. In acellular conditions, compared to CP20, iron removing ability from the calcein-Fe(III) complex was 40 times higher for ICL670. On the whole, biological responses of HepaRG cells to ICL670 treatment were characteristic of expected iron depletion. In contrast, the effects of CP20 suggest the potential involvement of this compound in the iron uptake from the external medium into the hepatocytes from the HepaRG cell line, therefore acting like a siderophore in this cell model.     

Ferritin synthesis in rat L-6 cells: response to iron challenge

The short term response of the L-6 cell line of rat skeletal myoblasts to elevated extracellular iron concentrations was studied. It was found in all cases that iron as the nitrilotriacetate (NTA) chelate was effective at donating iron to the cells and at stimulating ferritin synthesis. After 48 h in 50 microM ferric NTA, the cellular ferritin levels rose from an undetectable level to 1.11 (+/- 0.07) ng ferritin/microgram cell protein, or 0.1% of total cell protein. Similarly, the total iron in the cells rose under the same conditions from an unmeasurable level to plateau at over 10 fmol iron/cell. In addition, it was found that these cells synthesize ferritin in response to iron in a dose-dependent manner over a range of iron concentrations from 5-1000 microM. A sensitive and specific immunoradiometric assay for rat ferritin was used in these studies to quantitate ferritin in cell lysates.     

Internalization of cationized ferritin receptors by rat hepatoma ascites cells.

Cationized ferritin (CF) was used to label the cell surface anionic sites of Chang rat hepatoma ascites cells. If the hepatoma cells were fixed with glutaraldehyde and treated with CF, the label was distributed evenly over the external surface of the plasma membrane. Treatment of unfixed ascites cells with CF yielded clusters of ferritin particles separated by label-free areas of the plasma membrane. Some unfixed ascites cells were treated firstly with CF, then incubated in veronal buffered saline at 37 °C for 10, 20, 30 and 45 min, subsequently fixed in glutaraldehyde and re-exposed to CF. After 10 min of incubation, the label was arranged into large clusters with the remaining areas of the plasma membrane lightly labelled with CF. At 20 min, only clusters of ferritin were present on the plasma membrane; the remaining area of the cell surface was totally free of label. The ability of the plasma membrane to bind additional CF was completely restored after 45 min of incubation. These results suggest that for some period of time after internalization of CF label on cell surface the plasma membrane is devoid of any detectable negative charge.     

On the non-ferritin depot iron fraction in the rat liver

Liver depot iron can be divided into two fractions: ferritin iron and non-ferritin depot iron. Three methods intended to measure the non-ferritin depot iron in the rat liver were compared using livers of normal rats and livers of rats loaded with iron by transfusion of erythrocytes. Liver depot iron varied between 75 and 850 μg Fe/g liver. Non-ferritin depot iron, measured as the iron fraction sedimentable at 10 000 × g, was in the range 4–22 μg Fe/g liver. This fraction did contain ferritin. When measured as the difference between total liver depot iron and heat-stable iron (ferritin iron), the range was 10–270 μg Fe/g liver but this fraction also includes some ferritin iron.The values derived with both methods were linearly proportional to the total liver depot iron values.Non-ferritin depot iron, when measured as the difference between total liver depot iron and total ferritin iron, ranged from 0 to 190 μg Fe/g liver. In this last method no ferritin iron is included. This method provides the best estimate of the non-ferritin depot iron fraction. The concentrations obtained with this method were not always linearly proportional to the total liver depot iron concentration. Intravenous injection of rat liver ferritin resulted in a rapid accumulation of ferritin iron in the liver, together with an increase of the non-ferritin depot iron fraction from 18 μg Fe/g liver to 55 μg Ge/g liver. This confirms a relationship between ferritin catabolism and the non-ferritin depot iron fraction.     

Release of iron by human retinal pigment epithelial cells.

Retinal pigment epithelial cells, which form one aspect of the blood-retinal barrier, take up iron in association with transferrin by a typical receptor-mediated mechanism (Hunt et al., 1989. J. Cell Sci. 92:655-666). This iron is dissociated from transferrin in a low pH environment and uptake is sensitive to agents that inhibit endosomal acidification. The dissociated iron enters the cytoplasm as a low molecular weight (less than 10 kD) component and subsequently binds to ferritin. No evidence for recycling of iron in association with transferrin was found. Nevertheless, much of the iron that is taken up is recycled to the extracellular medium, primarily from the low molecular weight pool. This release of iron is not sensitive to inhibitors of energy production or of vesicular acidification but is increased up to a maximum of about 40% of the total 55Fe incorporated when cells are incubated with serum or the medium is changed. When a short loading time for 55Fe from 55Fe-transferrin is used (i.e., when the low molecular weight pool is proportionately larger), a much larger fraction of the cell-associated radiolabel is released than when longer loading times are used. The data suggest that a releasable intracellular iron pool is in equilibrium with the externalized material. The released iron may be separated into a high and a low molecular weight component. The former is similar on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis to ferritin although it cannot be immune precipitated by anti-ferritin antibodies. The low molecular weight 55Fe which is heterogeneous in nature can be bound by external apo-transferrin and may represent a form that can be taken up by cells beyond the blood-retinal barrier.     

Transferrin iron interactions with cultured hepatocellular carcinoma cells (PLC/PRF/5)

Hepatocellular carcinoma cells of the PLC/PRF/5 cell line had 1.9 x 10(5) transferrin receptors per tumor cell with a Kd of 1.5 x 10(-8) M. At high concentrations of transferrin the binding was not saturable. Transferrin internalization by hepatoma cells was shown by time and temperature-dependent binding studies and by pronase experiments. Transferrin recycling was confirmed by the demonstration of a progressive increase in the cellular molar ratios of iron to transferrin and by chase experiments. Ammonium chloride interfered with iron unloading. The vinca alkaloid vincristine inhibited iron and transferrin uptake. The hepatocarcinoma cells appeared to lack asialoglycoprotein receptors and therefore internalized partially desialated transferrin by the regular route. Iron uptake from transferrin was markedly inhibited by the hydrophobic ferrous chelator 2,2' bipyridine but was relatively unaffected by the hydrophilic ferric chelator desferroxamine. The implication that ferrous iron was involved in postendocytic transvesicular membrane iron transport was supported by a study in which hepatoma cells were shown to take up large amounts of ferrous iron suspended in 270 mM sucrose at pH 5.5. The interaction at this pH between surface labeled hepatoma cell extracts and ferrous iron on a Sephacryl S-300 column suggested that the postendocytic transvesicular transport of iron through the membrane was in part protein mediated. The endocytosed iron in hepatoma cells was found in association with ferritin (33%), transferrin (31%) and a low molecular weight fraction (21%).     

Mucosal iron binding proteins and the inhibition of iron absorption by endotoxin

The uptake of iron from a tied off jejunal segment into the body after the injection of a 59Fe labeled test dose was decreased after the administration of endotoxin by about 80% in both normal and iron deficient animals.--In the iron deficient group the distribution of 59Fe in the cytosol fraction of jejunal mucosa between transferrin and ferritin was determined chromatographically; the amount of 59Fe in the ferritin fraction increased remarkably after the endotoxin treatment and the ratio of both was changed in favor of ferritin.--It is hypothesized that the association of the diversion of iron to the mucosal ferritin with the decrease of the transport of iron into the blood caused by endotoxin might be the consequence of abnormal oxidations in the mucosa measured by others in liver tissue.     

A simple assay for determination of iron release from ferritin in neuroblastoma cells.

A commercially available enzyme immunoassay was used to determine ferritin content and subsequently the loading and release of iron from ferritin in neuroblastoma cells. LS cells were incubated with 59Fe for 24 h, lysed, and the cytoplasmic ferritin was bound to monoclonal antibodies coupled to globules. After determination of the ferritin content the same globules with bound radioactive ferritin were measured in a gamma-counter. To illustrate the applicability of this test system, increased iron loading of cellular ferritin could be demonstrated in cycloheximide-treated cells; furthermore, release of iron was documented after incubation of LS cells with a combination of 6-hydroxydopamine and ascorbate. The assay turned out to be a simple method for determination of changes in 59Fe content of ferritin in neuroblastoma cells.     

Biosynthesis of ferritin in rat hepatoma cells and rat livers. I. Synthesis and assembly of protein subunits of ferritin.

Cell fractions were prepared from ACI rat livers and from rat hepatoma cell clone M-5123-C1. Radioimmunoassays of ferritin and of its protein subunits in various cell fractions after biosynthetic labeling with [14C]leucine were done by means of ferritin-specific and subunit-specific rabbit antibody. In both ACI rat livers and M-5123-C1 hepatoma cells free polyribosomes synthesized approximately 81% of the protein subunits of ferritin, and membrane-bound polyribosomes synthesized the rest. In both polyribosomal fractions, [14C]leucine-labeled subunits were detected earlier than [14C]leucine-labeled ferritin and apoferritin (5 min as against 30 min after initiation of a pulse). Time sequence studies of the shifts of biosynthetically labeled subunits and ferritin through different cell compartments provided evidence for vectorial transport of subunits and of ferritin, the direction of transport being from the two polyribosomal systems to the smooth membrane compartment and to the cytosol.